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Mandatory Organ Donation

After death do you think it should be mandated that organs are used to save lives?


  • Total voters
    76
I'm not an organ donor. I don't trust hospitals to make certain I'm actually dead before raiding my organs or to do their best to save my life if they know they desperately need a fresh kidney. If they change the default to donor and you have to check a box to opt out, I'll check that box.

At some point this will be an obsolete issue because they'll be able to grow anyone any kind of new organ from their DNA. In the meantime, I can't bring myself to be an organ donor because the whole thing seems ghoulish and terrifies me that they'll rip some organ out of me while I'm alive. I have a lot of phobias. I don't give blood either because I'm terrified of needles. I pass out at the sight of them. If the doctor has to draw blood, they have to have me lie down and they have to have a nurse or someone comfort me so that I don't scream.

I know I should be an organ donor and give blood, but it's too terrifying. I'm not sure if I'll ever get over these phobias. In fact, I've gotten all sweaty and my heart rate is racing just from writing this. Oh, and, no, organ donation shouldn't be mandatory.
 
I would support a system of "presumed consent" for organ donations. Basically, unless you made it explicitly clear prior to your death that you did NOT want anyone to take your organs - or if your family raised a big stink about it after your death - any and all usable organs would be taken. That would still protect people's religious freedoms, but the "opt-in" system doesn't produce enough results due to inertia...most people never get around to signing up to being an organ donor.
 
I was an organ donor for years...but no one would want these old parts anymore...but I dont know why everyone isnt a voluntary organ donor unless you have strict religious beliefs that would not allow it....Why not donate organs ? its not like your going to be using them and you could be saving a kids life a young mothers life...or anyones life...Doesnt make sense that more people dont step up...but making it mandatory..ehhhhh not to kosher to me
 
Some religions would not allow for the mandatory donation of organs. Regardless of that fact, I do not support mandatory organ donation. The potential donor and/or their family should be able to make that choice. Perhaps the family of the potential donor is unable to tolerate the psychological challenge of organ donation after losing a loved one. So then which family's grief is more valuable, and why?
 
I would support a system of "presumed consent" for organ donations. Basically, unless you made it explicitly clear prior to your death that you did NOT want anyone to take your organs - or if your family raised a big stink about it after your death - any and all usable organs would be taken. That would still protect people's religious freedoms, but the "opt-in" system doesn't produce enough results due to inertia...most people never get around to signing up to being an organ donor.

I can already see the mountains of lawsuits against something like this. "Presumed" anything dealing with doctors and others loved ones is a fast ticket to the hot seat in a civil court.
 
I would support a system of "presumed consent" for organ donations. Basically, unless you made it explicitly clear prior to your death that you did NOT want anyone to take your organs - or if your family raised a big stink about it after your death - any and all usable organs would be taken. That would still protect people's religious freedoms, but the "opt-in" system doesn't produce enough results due to inertia...most people never get around to signing up to being an organ donor.


Ditto, I think the default should be organ donation not the opposite.

Seriously when I was at the transplant center they had to ask me and have me fill forms to donate organs in case I passed away during tests.

I'm in ****ing for crying out loud!
 
Instead of making someone check a box in order to be an organ donor, they should check in order not to be an organ donor.

Make organ donation the default, and if someone wants to opt out, then they check a box.

This. I remember reading somewhere about organs going to waste because they had no idea whether the deceased wanted to donate or not.
 
After death do you think it should be mandated that organs are used to save lives?

Nope.Your health problems do not entitle you to my organs.
 
I would support a system of "presumed consent" for organ donations. Basically, unless you made it explicitly clear prior to your death that you did NOT want anyone to take your organs - or if your family raised a big stink about it after your death - any and all usable organs would be taken. That would still protect people's religious freedoms, but the "opt-in" system doesn't produce enough results due to inertia...most people never get around to signing up to being an organ donor.

Huh, so what qualify as a big enough stink such that the family's wishes would be honored?
 
It's each person's body and they have a right to dispose of it as they wish. I'm an organ donor, though it does freak out my kids, they know not to thwart my wishes. One of them has not checked the donor box on their driver's license. I won't thwart them if it came down to it. Those are their wishes and I have no right to interfere.
 
This. I remember reading somewhere about organs going to waste because they had no idea whether the deceased wanted to donate or not.

That happens alot...a young person rushed to ER cant be saved...they try and locate relatives to release very much needed organs for other young people and they go over the allowable time limit and the idea has to be scrapped
 
It's each person's body and they have a right to dispose of it as they wish. I'm an organ donor, though it does freak out my kids, they know not to thwart my wishes. One of them has not checked the donor box on their driver's license. I won't thwart them if it came down to it. Those are their wishes and I have no right to interfere.

Gina theres no doubt it should be an individuals decision and not a govt mandate...Maybe they could word it differently or ask differently or maybe get some awareness how much organs are needed to save others as they do whining about BIG SODA being sold...I think if we put as much effort into explaining the need for organ donors as we do trying to legalize weed...we would have lots more donors
 
Gina theres no doubt it should be an individuals decision and not a govt mandate...Maybe they could word it differently or ask differently or maybe get some awareness how much organs are needed to save others as they do whining about BIG SODA being sold...I think if we put as much effort into explaining the need for organ donors as we do trying to legalize weed...we would have lots more donors

I can agree with that lpast. There are many misconceptions about organ donation. Educating the public, could be of great benefit. Everything I know about it, I discovered for myself. Explaining and easing anxieties over donating, could yield greater participation. I mean really, having the woman or guy at the DMV be the primary point of contact for all possible donors, is pretty lame. No offense to those who work at the DMV, it's just not really their job to make explanations.
 
I can agree with that lpast. There are many misconceptions about organ donation. Educating the public, could be of great benefit. Everything I know about it, I discovered for myself. Explaining and easing anxieties over donating, could yield greater participation. I mean really, having the woman or guy at the DMV be the primary point of contact for all possible donors, is pretty lame. No offense to those who work at the DMV, it's just not really their job to make explanations.

Losing a loved one is HORRIFIC especially suddenly and at a young age...to me if that HAD to happen to me with one of my own, I would be proud and happy to have a part of them save another young person and give them life....I as person with a loss have only to gain from that...not lose anything more.
 
Have you ever watched your uncle wither away and die over the course of five years, never to receive the pair of lungs he was waiting for?

I view humans as the animal-monkey homo sapien. We're typically hairless monkeys suspended in a rock in space. Unlike other animals we have heightened intelligence. Like ants and other creatures we crave order, efficiency, survival.

Once we die our right to our organs should die as well. How many people have to suffer and wait for organs that they may not ever receive? If you failed the birth lottery and are poor, chances are you won't be able to shunt money towards getting an organ faster.

No, you have no right to your organs when you die. Your organs will be used to save the lives of others desperately in need. Our country would be a much better place if we didn't waste the perfectly useable organs of the deceased. Think about it. How many people would you say are waiting for a new heart, lung, liver, etc? What if you found yourself waiting? Waiting. Waiting. Deteriorating. Hoping. Dying.

No more. Do away with voluntary donations. Make it mandatory for the benefit of all. What, you think you need your rotting organ after you're dead? No, you most certainly don't. It could be better put towards saving the life of another human being. It would take some strain off of our healthcare system if we had ready access to life-saving organs/tissue/whatever.

I think this is what's best for America.
The problem with body harvesting is that it enables the black market. We can't allow people to sell body parts because folks have been before, still are in a reduced capacity under a ban, and would be again killed so that their parts could be sold.

Likewise, mandating organ donation will increase the number of preventable deaths.

In stead, we should offer some kind of tax incentive for being a voluntary donor.
 
The problem with body harvesting is that it enables the black market. We can't allow people to sell body parts because folks have been before, still are in a reduced capacity under a ban, and would be again killed so that their parts could be sold.

Likewise, mandating organ donation will increase the number of preventable deaths.

In stead, we should offer some kind of tax incentive for being a voluntary donor.


your right there...and theres some of that goes on full time around the world....it has to be kept voluntary but we need more awareness...its a win win as I view it...obviously not everyone else feels the same
 
Losing a loved one is HORRIFIC especially suddenly and at a young age...to me if that HAD to happen to me with one of my own, I would be proud and happy to have a part of them save another young person and give them life....I as person with a loss have only to gain from that...not lose anything more.

Beautifully stated lpast. Would that more people could find that generosity in their hearts, choosing to make something good come from a tragedy.
 
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Huh, so what qualify as a big enough stink such that the family's wishes would be honored?

Maybe they go to the trouble to sign a document saying that they don't want the deceased person's organs to be taken, and deliver it to the hospital or morgue. Something like that. Something that's enough of an inconvenience that most people won't bother, but not so much of an inconvenience that the family's wishes aren't respected.

Part of the problem with our current system is that most people are simply lazy. Most people would have no issue with being an organ donor, but far less are actually registered to be an organ donor. An "opt-out" system makes more sense than an "opt-in" system IMO. There are too many people desperately in need of organs for us to just bury people with perfectly good organs when they weren't even opposed to donating them.
 
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Everyone in my family has signed the donor card.. including me. God forbid anything should happen to any of them.

For me its not much of an issue... because by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil .. all my parts will be worn out.

Have you ever watched your uncle wither away and die over the course of five years, never to receive the pair of lungs he was waiting for?

I view humans as the animal-monkey homo sapien. We're typically hairless monkeys suspended in a rock in space. Unlike other animals we have heightened intelligence. Like ants and other creatures we crave order, efficiency, survival.

Once we die our right to our organs should die as well. How many people have to suffer and wait for organs that they may not ever receive? If you failed the birth lottery and are poor, chances are you won't be able to shunt money towards getting an organ faster.

No, you have no right to your organs when you die. Your organs will be used to save the lives of others desperately in need. Our country would be a much better place if we didn't waste the perfectly useable organs of the deceased. Think about it. How many people would you say are waiting for a new heart, lung, liver, etc? What if you found yourself waiting? Waiting. Waiting. Deteriorating. Hoping. Dying.

No more. Do away with voluntary donations. Make it mandatory for the benefit of all. What, you think you need your rotting organ after you're dead? No, you most certainly don't. It could be better put towards saving the life of another human being. It would take some strain off of our healthcare system if we had ready access to life-saving organs/tissue/whatever.

I think this is what's best for America.
 
Yet if you die, you're no longer alive on this earth to exercise any sort of freedom. Rights should end, like marriage, upon death. That's my take on it.

The main problem is that the family can. And some of them take religious habits of dealing with the dead quite seriously. Given that we have religious freedom in this country, and humans in unusual conditions of death (like brain death) typically belong to the family, I think you'd have a hard time arguing that the family can't decide what's done after death.

That depends on what religion/spirituality you subscribe to. And even from an agnostic/atheist stand point it's still your body even after death.

And dude, if you think you don't have a right to your body after death, then you certainly shouldn't believe in any inheritances or passing down of money.

Eh, not really. From my personal atheist perspective, "I" no longer exist after death. I can't own my body if I don't exist. I don't care what's done with the vessel I used to use to carry myself around.

My wishes are centered around trying to create the least waste. I am a registered organ donor, and I'd like my remains to buried without a casket, to make it the least resource intensive and the least polluting.

But here's the thing: At the end of the day, I won't care whether that really happens or not, because I'll be dead. If humanity wants to create waste for no reason or deprive others of life-saving organs, fine. I tried my best, in life.
 
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Its unfortunate that so many place their emotional connection to the dead above the living, but that is not justification enough for using state coercion. Selfishness is part of human nature and there are some places where its too invasive to justify state intervention even when it would benefit the collective good. In the long run, stell-cell grown organ replacements are a better solutions anyways.
 
yes, make all-Americans default organ-donors.

if you want your body to have integrity when it becomes worm-food, you should have to select it and have it printed on your drivers license or state-issued ID.
So you would require a government issued ID to prevent the government from confiscating your body, but having a govenment issued ID to vote is a problem. Interesting.

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The problem with body harvesting is that it enables the black market. We can't allow people to sell body parts because folks have been before, still are in a reduced capacity under a ban, and would be again killed so that their parts could be sold.

Likewise, mandating organ donation will increase the number of preventable deaths.

In stead, we should offer some kind of tax incentive for being a voluntary donor.
While I am a flat-tax advocate at heart and feel that all incentives and deductions should be eliminated, as long as we have incentives and deductions I would be all in favor of voluntary organ donations being one of them. I would much prefer that over "presumed consent".
 
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