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

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.

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.

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.

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

And this one

There's also this one about raising awareness.

Thanks, gm.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 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!

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.

Soory bluebell not intended to "shut" you or anybody "up" I just meant that many of us who have had personal experience of transplantation will have commented on the previous thread and may not wish to repeat ourselves, so there are valid comments which you may like to read. If you lok at "Search forums" you will find the previous threads. Of course fresh perspectives and comments are necessary but you and others may wish to read what GNers with first hand experience have to say.

I've been on the donor register for years and my family know my wishes but I have my doubts that my OH will comply he can't bear the thought.. I've told my eldest daughter to try to over ride him but I have my doubts it would be allowed and I can't bear the thought of them 'fighting' about it after I'm gone so I haven't done anything legal about it I guess I just hope he will comply but I really don't think he will as he gets upset if I even bring the subject up silly man (in the nicest possible way) .

I have been on the donor register for yonks. My card is in my purse. My family know my wishes on the matter. It makes perfect sense to allow another to make use of any useable spare parts, when my time is up. After which, the remainder will become stardust.

AS far as I remember from the last time we talked about this, many religious groups that forbid organ donation from their members are quite happy for them to accept organs from other people.
JW are an exception, they will neither give nor receive anything that involves blood, but I believe that great strides have been made in recycling a patient's own blood and this has been of benefit to plenty of non-JWs.
The religious objections are so riddled with contradictions that they are quite laughable. For example, one reason given is that the body must be able to rise up whole on the day of judgement. They don't say what happens to amputees. Basing modern rules on the conditions that appertained thousands of years ago is clearly not acceptable.
I am not aware that any Christian churches forbid either giving or receiving organs, but I look to my good friends to give us the answer.

I'm coming round more and more to an opt-out system. The news today was good about the increase in organ donors but said that there was still a huge problem with South Asian and black communities who, for example, are 3x as likely to need a kidney transplant but whose willingness to donate is very very small. Because of tissue matching etc, that really reduces their chances of getting one when they need it. The thing about opt-out we know is that many people wouldn't bother and so the number of organ donors would increase - but would there then be a backlash against the opt-out system then which might increase the numbers opting-out? It's complicated isn't it and I do wonder that when there are religious arguemnts against donating , do they equally apply to receiving? How many other countries have opt-outs and how do they work?

absent, easy answer to your personal problem with it is don't be an organ donor. The issue here is whether those who have chosen to be possible organ donors have their choice over-ruled by someone else. I don't think that is right.

And whose body it isn't and never was.

But the state does have the ultimate responsibility of disposing of it. If you have no relatives, or if they can't pay for a funeral, the 'state' (i.e. society) must.

As for ownership after death, who cares? If whoever 'owns' my body after I'm dead wants to feed me to the birds, that's fine by me. Worms and bacteria if buried after all. Doesn't really matter how one gets into the food chain. Even ashes help with that.

But I can see the legal tangle we're getting into. It just seems a bit daft to be an organ donor in the hope that someone might benefit from a piece of you when you're dead, only to have that living decision over-ruled by someone who doesn't like it.

Bags Then who would the corpse belong to? I don't feel happy about the idea of the state owning my body and I don't suppose the state would want the responibility of disposing of it.