Organ donating? What are the cons?

[jakethebake]

I'm donating the whole damn body. I see no cons.

[HopeydaFish]

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Since you won't have any control over who will get your organs when you die (that's how it works in Sweden anyway), you might end up saving the life of someone you would rather see dead.

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A) There are people that you wish death upon?
B) There are *enough* people out there that you wish death upon, that you think there's a chance that one of them will get your organs?
C) And you think that who gets your organs will make a lick of difference to you after you're dead?
D) How would you feel one day when you need a transplant and you discover that nobody is donating organs anymore because everyone is as selfish as you?

[usmfan]

Maybe you could donate and volunteer for the Visible Human pt.2? Here

[Unoriginalname]

I'm not religious so it looks like there's no real reason for me not to do it. By the way, I'm only 23 years old so HOPEFULLY this won't even be an issue for a very long time.

[djoyce003]

how could there be drawbacks? If you are unfortunate enough to die young, at least you can save the lives of a whole bunch of people...I can't see how everyone isn't an organ donor.

[CollinEstes]

Dibs on his liver!

I have a feeling cirrhois is just around the corner.

[astroglide]

i believe it's a popular theory/urban legend that certain doctors will "play god" with you if it's known that you're an organ donor. meaning true measures to save your life in an emergency won't be taken because you are 1 life, and your fresh organs are worth more than 1 life.

[cadillac1234]

Since I work in the field I can give a couple of comments.

Advantages:

a. It's generally considered to be a noble, altruistic thing (at least in Western Cultures) to do since you are helping others by giving them a life-changing gift.

b. It may assist in helping your family members during the grieving process since they may take comfort in the fact that your death may result in saving the lives of others

c. You're not likely to miss them anyways

d. A single donor can make help up to 250 patients if they also donate tissue

Possible disadvantages:

a. Even though it goes against the basic principle a young, otherwise healthy donor will be treated like a commodity while older donors may not get treated with the respect they deserve. This is basically because most surgeons refuse to listen to empirical evidence showing that there is very little difference in strength tests and failure rates between different age sets of donors. Marketing by various tissue agencies are also to blame for this. This is an industry problem that I encounter on a daily basis and really frickin' sucks since I feel for the families that donated Uncle Ted but because he's 51 years old he's not considered 'prime' because of his age.

b. A thorough medical history with some pretty pointed questions will be asked to the donors family to assure there is no immediate rule-outs due to high-risk behaviors.

c.You will literally be parted out and may be shipped all over the world. If it bugs you that someone in Sri Lanka may get your cornea then this might be an issue although you can have your family request that you only go to US recipents.

Obviously it's a personal choice with a pretty +EV for society as a whole. If you do make the decision to donate organs I highly suggest you also look into donating tissue as well. The potential to help many more patients is greatly increased and it's not going involve that much more in post-mortum recovery.

[HopeydaFish]

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how could there be drawbacks? If you are unfortunate enough to die young, at least you can save the lives of a whole bunch of people...I can't see how everyone isn't an organ donor.

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People don't like to think about dying, let alone being sliced open and having their organs harvested when it happens.

The scare-lore that one of the previous posters described about brain dead individuals "squirming and grimacing" as they're being cut open only confirms peoples' fears.

And for those people who believed his stories of "squirming" brain dead bodies...I went on the web to research this question, and every site that made reference to bodies squirming and grimacing during harvesting were also affiliated with special interests groups and/or religious groups. They make it very clear on the sites that they don't support organ donation.

Sigh...and how effective do you think organ removal would be when the patient is squirming during the procedure? I like how the poster mentioned that the patient would be "tied down" to keep them from squirming. Double sigh.

I also found numerous medical sites that deal with organ donation, and they discuss all the tests that must be performed before a body is deemed a candidate for harvesting. One of the tests is a "pain test", which specifically watches for the patient grimacing or moving in response to pain. If the patient responds to pain, it indicates that there is enough brain function left that they are not clininically brain dead. You need to be clinically brain dead before they will remove your organs for transplant.

[touchfaith]

There is no way I will be donating my organs.

I am very sexy and as a result, I would imagine the gay necropheliacs (sp?) will be lining up outside my door to SIIMP once I die...

Since I'll be dead, I just can't see the need to give them a crappy piece of ass.