Organ Donation

[~Lynd~]

I know this is a kind of a morbid topic but i got another ID card the other day and the question was asked about organ donation and so i'm curious as to people's thoughts.

I gave consent,i'm not gonna need them when i'm gone and Australia has one of the lowest organ donation rates.

[KaiyaBlake]

I agree. In my personal opinion I would feel selfish if I said no. You could save so many lives!

[Cerise]

It really doesn't make a difference when you're dead whether you have a certain organ or not. I would be the first person to put my name down for a doners card. I figure that you aren't going to miss it, because you won't be around, but the person who gets your kidney will get to spend more time on earth, and that's thanks to you. If you refuse, it's completely selfish. Now, i have different opinions on when you are alive and are asked to donate a kidney (ie something you can live without if you have another) for a relative, that should be your respected choice if you choose not to.

[Cal]

I can't see why somebody wouldn't give an organ when they're dead. This might be a bit harsh, but if you're six feet under or in a jar, does it really matter if you are missing a kidney, liver, or whatever other organs you have?

I keep forgetting to sign my card and tick the relevant boxes, but I'll do it today. I don't know how much use my organs would be, they're probably stuffed with varieties of medications by now and completely wrecked

[Lesley Bee]

Im all for it, it would be good to know that maybe you could save someone else's life.

[Jess]

It really doesn't make a difference when you're dead whether you have a certain organ or not. I would be the first person to put my name down for a doners card. I figure that you aren't going to miss it, because you won't be around, but the person who gets your kidney will get to spend more time on earth, and that's thanks to you. If you refuse, it's completely selfish. Now, i have different opinions on when you are alive and are asked to donate a kidney (ie something you can live without if you have another) for a relative, that should be your respected choice if you choose not to.

I don't think it's fair to say it's 'completely selfish' to refuse, though, because when you die, yes, you may not actually need them anymore, but what about the relatives left behind? Organ donation isn't just a nice 'Oh, look, they're dead, let's cut them open and salvage what we can'; organs have to be taken, generally, when the person's still alive. Imagine having to make that heartbreaking decision to turn your loved one's life-support machine off, for example, because some doctor needs their organs to save someone else. I know it'd be a very difficult decision to make, anyway, but I just think that it gives an added pressure. I'm not, however, saying that organ donation isn't a wonderful thing - I think it's just more grey than it first appears.

[Cerise]

Yeah, that's true, maybe completely selfish isn't the term that should be used. I've heard a lot about this subject from doctors points of views, because a lot of my relatives work in medicine, and I suppose that vision is obscured when your primary concern is to save lives. I think from a families point of view it would be harder to give consent for doctors to 'cut them open', if you haven't given it yourself - and of course if there's a situation like a long-term coma, or being brain-dead it would be much harder to make a choice. So it is a difficult choice, but primarily I'd say that organ donation - all for it. But by all means you aren't a bad person if you dont want to give an organ up, or if you are family and are reluctant to have doctors remove an organ, especially if there's somehwat chance of new technology to revive one from a long-term coma/braindead/something similar in 20 years down the line.

[xGlowingAngelx]

It really doesn't make a difference when you're dead whether you have a certain organ or not. I would be the first person to put my name down for a doners card. I figure that you aren't going to miss it, because you won't be around, but the person who gets your kidney will get to spend more time on earth, and that's thanks to you. If you refuse, it's completely selfish. Now, i have different opinions on when you are alive and are asked to donate a kidney (ie something you can live without if you have another) for a relative, that should be your respected choice if you choose not to.

I don't think it's fair to say it's 'completely selfish' to refuse, though, because when you die, yes, you may not actually need them anymore, but what about the relatives left behind? Organ donation isn't just a nice 'Oh, look, they're dead, let's cut them open and salvage what we can'; organs have to be taken, generally, when the person's still alive. Imagine having to make that heartbreaking decision to turn your loved one's life-support machine off, for example, because some doctor needs their organs to save someone else. I know it'd be a very difficult decision to make, anyway, but I just think that it gives an added pressure. I'm not, however, saying that organ donation isn't a wonderful thing - I think it's just more grey than it first appears.

I agree with Jess. Much as an organ can save a life, there's also somebody elses lost in the process and that's just as heartbreaking. There's no right or wrong either way. I believe everyone should be entitled to the decision about what happens to them after they pass away and whilst many people don't necessarily think about it, I'm not sure it's the right of someone else to decide.

I personally have never really thought about it. It makes me feel a bit squeemish (Did I spell that right?) at the thought of somebody else having one of my organs. I'd rather everyone close to me got the chance to say goodbye in their own time, without being hurried along because they want a kidney. Selfish as that may sound.

I guess I wouldn't be able to properly decide unless I needed to. I'm not the healthiest person in the world anyway and - like Cal - my organs are probably overrun with medications etc. TBH, if people are going to donate, I'd rather it be those that are much healthier......

[superman's girlfriend]

Count me in! you can have mine if i'm death anyway and the rest can be burned and put in an urn ash scattering whatever as long as it doesn't cost too much

like my great-grandparens are already 50 years dead and my grandparents had to pay extra to extend the period which of course they did, you know how older people are they are from an other generation they are religious and go every sunday to church,Although it sometimes helps to believe there's life after death, fe when you're fatally ill (especially cancer) i think this can help you get through the unknown and you're not gonna end up alone.

Also i don't believe that stuff in movies when they're doing a heart transplant and the donater continues to live in the transplant person.It would be different with brain transplants but i don't think they're already doing that stuff so.

[Traceve]

I became an organ donar as soon as I turned 18. If I can save other peoples lives after I'm gone, then that's great!