Organ Transplants - should you honour the wishes of the deceased?

I am on the organ donor register and I'm quite sure my husband/family wouldn't override my wishes, but I feel that the law should be changed so that the next of kin cannot override the potential donor's decision.

As to the adoption of an "opting out" law, I am still undecided. Though many sick people would benefit from the increased availability of organs resulting from such a law, I do have some concerns as to whether the state should be given this sort of overarching authority. Family members may feel that without positive "opting in" evidence they could never be sure what their loved one's wishes were - that their loved one may not have "got round" to opting out.

I think there should be more debate about the subject so that people have to think about their attitudes towards organ donation and whether it is right for a person to, hypothetically, be willing to accept an organ when they had previously been unwilling to donate one.

I carry a donor card in my purse, but have also been on the donor register for several years, as has eldest daughter. She would honour my wishes, not too sure about hubby and rest of family. Hubby isn`t signed up, but if he goes before me, if they want him, they can have him!! lol!

Is this all about respect? Both my husband and I carry donor cards, although I am not sure at our age what parts of our bodies would be any good to anyone, but I am sure my daughter would say, that if I had a donor card, then that was my wish and she would make sure that wish was carried out, as would I for her, because we have respect for each other. I appreciate that some people hate the idea of their loved ones being 'cut up', but the other side of the coin is the chance of a better life for someone, so in fact a person who has donated will live on in some way, or perhaps that thought is why some people are against organ donation. No sure, it is a very personal matter.

I would not hesitate to put the wishes of my loved ones into place. If I knew they wanted their organs transplanted I would actually tell the hospital as soon as possible and reach a respectful agreement with them as to when it was appropriate.

It is a wonderful thing to do.

POGS Agree - and, I would imagine, a great comfort to know that someone had benefited.

Delighted so many of you carry donor cards - you might like to read the views of people who have first hand experience of transplants, including living donations (earlier thread) if you are in any doubt as to the necessity to increase the number of donated organs.

Can you supply a link to the earlier thread, please?

Try
Organ donor Register in the "search forums" box.

Agreed gracesmum

Yesterday we had the wonderful news that DHs friend and former dialysis patient has had a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. This person has received dialysis treatment for several years and has never used his ill health as an excuse not to work. We are so pleased for him. No doubt his place in the dialysis unit has already been occupied.

Some sadness too, another dialysis patient and friend died aged just 59. It's a sad fact that so many people die whilst waiting and hoping for a donor organ.

Thanks, gm.

Link to previous thread on organ donation for people who might not have seen it at the time.

There's also this one about raising awareness.

And this one

And, lastly (I think), this one

But, why should anyone have to go to all the trouble I've just gone to (and I haven't read the threads, only found them listed) in order to ask the question that this thread asks? It's a new question anyhow.

gm, I think you need to swat that bee in your bonnet

At my age there is probably very little of use but I know that my Aunt donated her corneas when she died at 83. Carrying a donor card only works if you die in hospital, a sudden death at home and the body becomes the property of the coroner
I had said I would leave my body to a medical school but DS said he would not allow that to happen when the time came.

Going back to the OP. It would need a law change to prevent relatives from making such a decision. The body belongs to the next of kin and we cannot, in our wills even, determine what can be done with our body after death, not even whether to be cremated or buried.

Well I'm sorry if it is seen only as a bee in my bonnet but as a subject of which I and others have personal experience and therefore a very sensitive subject which the threads quoted make clear, perhaps my frustration was based on 1) finding it hard to ignore this area and 2) because I am so close to it, don't feel able to go through expressing my feelings all over again - both distressing and arousing emotions I might porefer to keep tucked safely away.
The question was addressed by I think hankipanki and others and apart from the report in the press that organ donations have actually goe up by 50%, as far as I can see there is nothing else new.

Please do not misunderstand me, gm. If you had put up a link to the thread in which you said what you had to say on this subject that is close to you, it might have helped. As it is, it took a long time for the source of that information to be readily available to people who hadn't seen it before.

The OP would not have been aware of it. In your initial post you could have supplied the link, but didn't. Why?

As it stands, your initial post reads a bit like a ticking off, and I think the OP read it like that, as did I. My comments were aimed at making this point, but clearly did not work.

I really do think it's not a good idea to jump into a new thread saying it's all been said before. It hasn't all been said before by everyone, and you could have linked to or copied and pasted your previous comments and made it easy for people to find it, but you chose merely to complain. I'm afraid I still don't understand why.

Sorry.

You complained elsewhere about multiple threads on the same topic as well. It definitely gave an impression of complaint rather than just a friendly "pointing out" with helpfulness to find the old threads thrown in.

I see it as simply a misunderstanding. Perhaps we could be sensitive to grace and just drop it?

It might also be useful to look at the guidelines for posting. That might stop some of the offensive language.

Admonishment accepted. I could and should have chosen my words more carefully but sometimes a response comes from the heart and not the head.

Respect gracsmum

Or even more to gracesmum!

gracesmum

Offensive language, mal, in this thread? I don't remember noticing any.

What about the other way round? Is it wrong for the next of kin to agree to organ donation knowing that the deceased was against it?