Organ donation.

[peggy]

I know that in the future I will need a transplant. I also am aware that 1 in 3 people on the transplant list will die waiting for one.
I just wondered what puts people off registering as an organ donor? I'm not intending to try and force the issue of carrying a card. (but if you have led a very healthy lifestyle, taking part in regular exercise and eating plenty of fruit and veg I may well suggest we meet up in a dark alley late at night to discuss the topic)
I just would like to know what stops people.

 

[Bob]

It may be one of those ‘I’ll sort it one day things’ that people never get round to doing. Or I know others who don’t like to think of such things and any conversation of death, funerals, organ donation etc. is avoided entirely.



We are miles behind in this country in all sort of ways – cord blood for instance is something that can be easily donated and is taken from a waste product at birth, it is no good to the baby or the mother and it is proven in countries like America to be responsible for saving thousands of lives. I looked into it when I was pregnant and you can store your own cord blood for £2000 or you can now donate to a national bank but only from 3 hospitals in the UK – all in London.



I think that organ donation should be an ‘opt-out’ process, where once you turn 18 you either accept that your organs will be donated or if you feel strongly enough that you don’t want that to happen you choose to opt out of it.



Personally I don’t like the idea of medical research, I’ve known a few medical students and cadabra’s are apparently not always treated with the greatest of respect.

 

[Withnail]

Also i suspect that asking family members when they are coping with the loss of a loved one might not be the best of timing - as necessary as it is. The best way around this is to make it quite clear that you wish to donate long before you 'shuffle off' - is it not the case that family can disagree to organ removal even if you are a card-carrying donor?

If people are stupid enough to disagree with donation on religiousy grounds, make it quite clear that if they go against your wishes you will return and haunt the hell off their asses.

Agree with the opt-out thing - why can't 'they' just pull their fingers out and get on with it?

 

[db]

I just would like to know what stops people.

nothing - i just never think about it! as the others have said, i definitely think this should be an "opt out" thing - i.e. everyone is a donor by default..

 

[Bob]

nothing - i just never think about it! as the others have said, i definitely think this should be an "opt out" thing - i.e. everyone is a donor by default..

If you want to be a donor (If thats the right phrase - I don't want to be one really if I'm honest as I quite like all my organs where they are for the time being) and are not already - sign up now. Then it's done and you don't have to think about it again.

https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/consent.asp

 

[That-Crazy-Rat-Lady]

I've been signed up since I was 12 - you can have whatever you want from me, I'm sure not going to need it when I'm dead!

 

[age'd parent]

Been signed up for too long to remember, I recently got a new plastic donor card as the paper one was illegible, It's a shame most of the bits are getting a bit worn out now, still the students can have a bit of fun with the remains.

I do think it's about time they made it opt out though!

 

[peggy]

I carry a card and have made my wishes known to family and friends. One friend did look quite shocked when i told him. in fact I think he said something along the lines of "really? well its nice to think there might be something worth taking" cheers!
i agree with the difficult timing, we were asked about donating our babys organs and tissue for research shortly after carrying her to the mortuary. There wasnt an opportunity to say "ooh I'l have a think, do some research and get back to you"
Time to get your head round these things is helpful, sadly it doesnt work out like that. if you change your mind after the event you have to just live with the emotion that brings. I didnt agree to her eyes been used, i had never seen them open and couldnt bear the thought of someone else looking into them.
interestingly my husband doesnt carry a card, despite having the knowledge that one day organ donation will be needed to keep me alive, although he said that i could give the green light on donation should the event occur. i think its just lazyiness on his part, but yes Withnail I believe the family can refuse to agree to the loved ones wishes.

 

[Lunar Scorpion]

Nowadays you just sign up to the organ donor register, however I do have a card in my wallet because I want to make sure anyone who has to make that decision knows what I want - they will send you one if you request it.

I also used to be a blood donor and on the bone marrow donor register but had to come off due to medical reasons. =(

I figure if I don't need it then it might as well be useful to someone else!

 

[Withnail]

I figure if I don't need it then it might as well be useful to someone else!

"It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot, like other kinds of garbage. That was Snowden’s secret. Ripeness was all."

And if you can't live to a 'ripe' old age, might as well give someone else a shot at it, what?

 

[Gadget]

I'm all signed up, they can have all of me, my family don't need a place to remember me, and certainly shouldn't have to pay the ridiculous fee everyone charges to dispose of my corpse. Let them have me and make some use of me, i'm not fussed what as i'll be beyond caring or mobidly curious and stick around to watch lol depending upon what happens when i'm gone. My personal hope is i get body farmed as i find forensics fascinating
Controversially and to my husbands grudging agreement i have the kids signed up and Gods forbid will be prepared to donate should the worst happen. Of course when they are grown up they can do what ever they see fit.

 

[Withnail]

...my family ... certainly shouldn't have to pay the ridiculous fee everyone charges to dispose of my corpse.

See now, that's also a very good point. Donate your whole body and funeral fees, which are ludicrously substantial, are no longer an issue.

If the politicos of this world are reluctant to introduce an 'opt-out' thingamabob, the other option would be to introduce some sort of financial reward. As it happens this is sort of enshrined in one of the very earliest laws known in this country -Weregild, literally 'man price' - and would offer an incentive to cough up with the body parts already.

The debates in the House on determining of price would be an absolute hoot.

 

[db]

See now, that's also a very good point. Donate your whole body and funeral fees, which are ludicrously substantial, are no longer an issue.

If the politicos of this world are reluctant to introduce an 'opt-out' thingamabob, the other option would be to introduce some sort of financial reward. As it happens this is sort of enshrined in one of the very earliest laws known in this country -Weregild, literally 'man price' - and would offer an incentive to cough up with the body parts already.

The debates in the House on determining of price would be an absolute hoot.

Ye gads, that would be hilarious.. The Daily Mail would soil themselves with glee at the fun they could have with that one.. Headlines such as GOVERNMENT DECLARES YOU ARE WORTH LESS THAN A GOOD BOTTLE OF WINE, and lots of charts & tables with sliding scales showing how honest, British white folk are "worth" less than evil gay immigrants or some such..

If there is one thing people like, it is money, though, so a financial incentive isn't actually a bad idea imo..

 

[Lunar Scorpion]

If there is one thing people like, it is money, though, so a financial incentive isn't actually a bad idea imo..

I would prefer it if people did it out of the goodness of their hearts (pun intended) and I think it is unethical to reward things like that financially.

 

[littleme]

I know this sounds really stupid, but I think some people are still somewhat suspicious about donating...I.E. as soon as they fill in the donation card, they will drop dead the next day

Myself, even though I'm not religious in the slightest - feel very squeemish about not being cremated/buried without being 'whole', having been brought up in a religious family I think it was drilled into me that having bits missing meant you wouldn't go to heaven, in the same way that someone commuting suicide wouldn't either...

Husband thinks that if you're ill in hospital, and the hospital knows you have a donor card - they would be less likely to try to keep you alive as you can be more use elsewhere...

I had a (minor) transplant operation 13 years ago, and decided to donate my own veins to replace my arterys rather than accept either an artificial artery or one from an animal, just because of those reasons.

I realize how stupid we both sound, but I'm guessing that quite a few other people may have the same superstitious views!


Husband also has a good point in that how would you feel if you woke up tomorrow to find you had been given a transplant operation without your consent (received an organ).

Maybe you should only be able to recieve organs, if you sign to say you will also donate?

 

[Withnail]

I... feel very squeemish about not being ...buried without being 'whole'...

Have you considered that being 'whole' may not be enough?

You might need a boat, a helmet, a shield, several pots, some shiny things etc etc...

 

[littleme]

Ahha! My father tells me I'm of Viking decent, although Facebook tells me my toes are from Egypt....

Just pointing out how you can be brought up with silly superstitious, and not believe in them any more - but you still don't want to 'break' them.

 

[Withnail]

I would prefer it if people did it out of the goodness of their hearts (pun intended) and I think it is unethical to reward things like that financially.

Whilst i agree in principal, sometimes practicalities have to be entertained if you want situations to change. The simple fact of the matter is that there is a shortage of donors, and people die for want of their bits.

A quick informs me that the average cost per annum per patient for kidney dialysis, for example, is £30,800. There are nearly 21,000 such patients.


Monetising organ donation would be far from ideal, but in the absence of 'presumed consent' it would at least provide some sort of answer. There is certainly a financial case for it, as distasteful as the idea is.

Having an opt-out/presumed consent system is the obvious answer, and is one of those ideas that crops up from time to time, is half-heartedly debated, then disappears for a few more years. The last time was in 2011 when the Welsh Assembly toyed with the idea of introducing it in, well, Wales. I don't know what became of it, i'll have a look in a bit, but it never seems to create the kind of political capital necessary to go beyond a few headlines.

I think littleme is right and people are perhaps 'suspicious' and 'squeamish' about it if they have to 'opt-in' - but i personally think this wouldn't translate to a mass of people 'opting out' if they had too. People who strongly disagree with this sort of thing most certainly would, but i feel quite sure that most people would be a good deal more 'meh' about it.

 

[Withnail]

i'll have a look in a bit...

Hmm, well the Bill is still in early stages in Wales - presciently it looks like it is due for debate quite soon, though there are quite a lot of stages for it to go through before 'assent'.

On closer reading it is perhaps not as 'obvious' an answer as reason would lead you to believe, most places where consent is presumed still have a family 'veto', if you will, in place. However -

Previous studies have pointed out that, on average, presumed consent countries do not
produce significantly higher organ donation rates. Moreover, several authors have
hypothesized that this lack of correlation is produced by the fact that presumed consent
laws are rarely enforced and that, in practice, family consent is always required before
organs are extracted.

In this article, we argue that legislative defaults on organ donation may affect the
consent decisions of the families, even if they are not enforced.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w10604.pdf?new_window=1

It seems that legislative 'presumed consent' has a sort of 'normalising' effect on people - that is to say it essentially makes them less squeamish - leading to higher donation rates.

We should hear what's happening in Wales quite soon. Gordon Brown was apparently quite keen to introduce such a system UK-wide in 2008 but a 'working group' advised against it - again presciently, it was agreed to look at the idea again in 2013. Perhaps it is an idea whose time has come, sort of thing.

 

[Gadget]

I don't think the Vikings worried too much about being 'whole' as they were often liable to have bits missing after battle lol.
In this financial climate the Americans might be on to something with paying folk to give blood.