Organ Donation

[2020hindsight]

well, as someone said recently on the radio - we should all be so into the philosophy of recycling by now, that when we die, they put us out on the footpath with the green and/or yellow bin, and we just get ... recycled.

 

[Rafa]

That's why I'm suggesting we should change the system to one where individuals have to actually opt out of organ donation, so that if such a "No" option is not specified, then any/all organs are available for donation after death. There are just so many people living really miserable lives for want of a new organ.

I am an organ donor... but yes, a system such as above would make a lot of sense.

 

[roland]

Maybe there should be less restrictions on stem cell research - then we could grow new organs. Can't really see the difference between tissue/organ harvesting from a deceased foetus or a deceased person.

 

[macca]

I think that a lot of people don't become organ donors because they are concerned that they may be allowed to die in order to get the organs needed.

If we make it an opt out situation, we would have a surplus of organs and this could allay a lot of peoples worry.

I do like the idea of preference to registered organ donors.


Me, the spirit goes on, the body doesn't, take what you can use BUT make sure I am dead first !!

 

[2020hindsight]

Yes, I'm a organ donor, but have instructed my family that only other nominated organ donors would be able to gain my parts.

A novel idea - I agree with you Superfly

I guess the same could go for blood donors yes?
(the only excuse for not having given was that you were anaemic or had been to a malaria area etc ( as I had for a while - although that problem seems to have gone away)

lol - in samoa (before Aids was around) they'd phone the pub when they needed blood, bit like "moe" in the simpsons - would call out "anyone here blood group C positive?" you'd yell out "sure!!" - and we'd file up to the hospital. I remember one of the barmaids had trouble during childbirth - a few of us donated "there and then" - she would have been high for weeks (all ended happily btw)

 

[roland]

How about a substantial binding cash incentive whilst the would be donors are still alive. I reckon you would get a surplus of prospective donors. Look how it worked with the baby bonus.

 

[Nyden]

How about a substantial binding cash incentive whilst the would be donors are still alive. I reckon you would get a surplus of prospective donors. Look how it worked with the baby bonus.

You know, that's actually an idea. Wealthy people fly to other countries to buy organs anyway, not like there isn't a precedent for it.

The government would actually be saving money on account of the fact that there would be many more readily available organs...wouldn't need to keep people in hospital for as long. On top of that of course - more people alive equates to more earning power, more taxes.

 

[2020hindsight]

Me, the spirit goes on, the body doesn't, take what you can use BUT make sure I am dead first !!

Whether or not the spirit goes on - ( and I agree that we would obviusly wish that it would if we had a choice) I sure as hell agree that the body doesn't -

UNLESS we do the right thing and let someone else "run" or "fly" with our help

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=232781&highlight=eagles#post232781

My body is merely the shell of my soul, but the flesh must be given its due.
Like a pony that carries its master back home, like an old friend that's tried and been true.
My spirit will never be broken or caught for the soul is a free-flying thing.
Like an eagle that needs neither comfort nor thought to rise up on glorious wings.

John Denver - Eagles And Horses

 

[roland]

You know, that's actually an idea. Wealthy people fly to other countries to buy organs anyway, not like there isn't a precedent for it.

The government would actually be saving money on account of the fact that there would be many more readily available organs...wouldn't need to keep people in hospital for as long. On top of that of course - more people alive equates to more earning power, more taxes.

If the Government won't do it, then maybe we could get eBay involved - we would take a little % off the top ..... just for management fees of course

 

[Prospector]

I'd be too concerned about doctors not doing their best to save me if I were a donor (in the case of any emergency); I have this vision of vultures flying around me.

The way I see it - if no one has anything to gain by my death...they'll all have no reason not to keep me alive!

That is exactly my issue too! I would prefer (assuming I am not the one in the emergency!) to make a decision at the time, rather than have medical people seeing the licence and taking this decision away from me; and making the organ transplation the priority rather than the person who is unstable. I have a couple of close friends in appropriate medical specialities - I would get their opinion on 'chances of life or death' before I made any decisions.

And yes, I guess I would not be happy about a liver going to someone who had abused their own through drug and alcohol use, when there was a child who needed it for a congenital condition. But I cant see that happening, and in any event, some here might even use race as a criteria for acceptance or not!

 

[noirua]

I believe the U.K. are introducing a plan where everyone is an organ donor unless they state they wish to opt out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7003208.stm

 

[Julia]

I understand completely those who have or will specify that any of their organs only go to someone who is also a donor, but wonder if we really want to go down that path. The next logical step would be to only give blood to those who are blood donors (as I think 2020 has pointed out), and then for doctors to be reluctant to treat patients who are ill because of e.g. smoking/overeating/drug and alcohol abuse etc.

Whiskers, the Advance Health Directive form is available for a few dollars in newsagents, as is the Enduring Power of Attorney form.

It probably wouldn't be inappropriate to discuss Advance Health Directives/Living Wills in this thread as well. I feel really strongly about leaving directions if I'm unable to speak for myself, e.g. I do not want to be kept alive if I can't live a normal and independent life. Being in some nursing home is not an appealing option.

Apparently very few people have thought about this, perhaps once again because it involves contemplating death which is something most of us prefer not to do. Many people don't even have a Will for the same reason!

 

[Timmy]

I have specified my organs are only to go to someone who drinks, smokes, overeats and generally has a great time - I want my organs to enjoy themselves in their new home.

 

[2020hindsight]

there was a TV show called "Tales with a Twist" or something like that "Strange Tales" whatever

... so this bloke has a wife who is a real dragon - a real super-bitch - added to which she has these really green eyes and this really piercing stare ..

and then he has this girfriend who is beautiful, kind, mildmannered - but who is blind .. he longs to spend the rest of his days with option #2.....

and so he arranges to kill his wife in a car crash ... dodgies the brakes.. etc ,, bang crash , end of problem ....

and goes to see his mistress, only to discover that she has gone to hospital to get her long awaited eye-transplant because "a donor has suddenly become available "

and
you guessed it , lol
there, as they take off the bandages ..

that same piercing green-eyed stare!!

 

[Nyden]

there was a TV show called "Tales with a Twist" or something like that "Strange Tales" whatever

... so this bloke has a wife who is a real dragon - a real super-bitch - added to which she has these really green eyes and this really piercing stare ..

and then he has this girfriend who is beautiful, kind, mildmannered - but who is blind .. he longs to spend the rest of his days with option #2.....

and so he arranges to kill his wife in a car crash ... dodgies the brakes.. etc ,, bang crash , end of problem ....

and goes to see his mistress, only to discover that she has gone to hospital to get her long awaited eye-transplant because "a donor has suddenly become available "

and
you guessed it , lol
there, as they take off the bandages ..

that same piercing green-eyed stare!!

Am I to assume this is fiction? As surely eyes aren't that hard of an organ to get a transplant for... Can't exactly be a mass waiting list, and I think all eyes are compatible for all people?

 

[Prospector]

Am I to assume this is fiction? As surely eyes aren't that hard of an organ to get a transplant for... Can't exactly be a mass waiting list, and I think all eyes are compatible for all people?

Like he said, it was a TV program, Tales with a Twist!

 

[Nyden]

Like he said, it was a TV program, Tales with a Twist!

Yes, but it could be one of those freaky-real-story shows, like Ripley's or something. Society hasn't really matured, has it - we're still paying a penny to catch a glimpse of the freak show

 

[2020hindsight]

Am I to assume this is fiction? As surely eyes aren't that hard of an organ to get a transplant for... Can't exactly be a mass waiting list, and I think all eyes are compatible for all people?

well the umpires at the cricket could donate one eye each - it wouldn't make any bludy difference - since they're only using one !



PS won't it be a great day when they can hook up the optic nerve - gotta feeling I read something about that recently as well - forget where - that they were attempting to put impulses into the brain so that a vision appeared. naa gotta be too hard..

Here's a story with a message ... a Moslem kid ending up with a Hindu eye
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/04/1088879377628.html

Pakistani child gets Indian eye
July 5, 2004

A one-year-old Pakistani boy saw the world for the first time yesterday through an eye donated by an Indian.

Mohammed Ahmed gained partial vision after a difficult operation at the Agarwal Eye Institute in the southern city of Madras where another Pakistani child got a donor's eye six months ago.

Doctors said Ahmed, who was born blind, would get near-normal sight by the time he heads back to Karachi next week.

"It was a complicated surgery since both his cornea [the transparent circular part of the front of the eyeball] had become white and the iris [the flat coloured membrane behind it] was stuck to the cornea," said Dr Amar Agarwal, who performed the surgery.

"We had to proceed very carefully, first to detach the iris and thereafter replace the defective cornea with a healthy one procured from a 50-year-old Madras donor two weeks back," Dr Agarwal told reporters.

"Now the Karachi kid can see the world through Indian eyes."

Sitting next to the doctor and oblivious of the media attention he was getting, Ahmed reached out to a ball placed on a table in front of him.

"We never imagined he will get his eyesight," said his mother Mehmooda Salim. "It's the will of Allah. We are thrilled."

Ahmed's father, Mohammed Salim, said that after he contacted the clinic and talked to Dr Agarwal it was easy to get the visa and get to Madras.

"We have a lot of faith in India. We are overwhelmed by the warmth of the people here. There are many patients back in Pakistan and they could now seek a cure from Indian specialists," he said.

Last year, a life-saving heart surgery was performed on two-year-old Pakistani girl Noor Fathima at a hospital in Bangalore, also in southern India. Since then a steady stream of Pakistani children has flocked to India seeking treatment for variety of ailments.

Not sure it's "the will of Allah" lady , lol
It's more about the old Indian's "will" - the one where he donated his eye

 

[DB008]

Enough said with this link!!!



http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=4065261&page=1

 

[Nyden]

Enough said with this link!!!



http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=4065261&page=1

Not really.

Getting something 'good' out of a teenage suicide? That sounded absolutely gruesome.

The parents should be allowing themselves to feel the grief, not trying to hide it away behind some sort of silver lining.

Her parents walk marathons to raise awareness on organ donation? How about doing marathons to raise awareness of clinical depression & teen suicide! Ugh, I'm sorry. Something about this article just ticked me right off.



Do you notice how the article mentions her death only once? No other explanations, or links for people suffering depression, there's a bloody link for organ donation at the bottom, but no link to a help line for depression?