I think it’s pretty important to note that only a relatively small number of people are eligable for the kind of organ donation the OP is interested in. Most organs need to be harvested from a body where the heart is still beating, or the blood is being moved around the body artificially. When the blood stops, most (not all, but most) of the organs are quickly rendered useless for transplantation. “Quickly” meaning, within minutes.
This means that most organ donation comes from bodies which are “brain dead” (which is dead), but the heart is still beating. Trauma, like car accidents, is a primary source of these bodies. Strokes are another. The person is brought in still more or less “alive” and put on a ventilator while doctors and nurses do their godsdamned best to save them. Then damage to the brain becomes apparent and they realize they’re never going to get the person off the respirator alive. That’s when the conversations with transplant centers and family members begin.
So suicide, as a practical matter, is largely incompatible with organ donation by modern technology, unless you’re committing suicide *inside *a hospital.
I find this story hard to understand. Other than kidneys, most organs need to be obtained from a brain-dead donor with a beating heart - in other words, they wheel the donor into an OR on life support and then remove their organs. Kidneys can be obtained from a non heart beating donor but that’s not optimal. Turning off a ventilator and allowing the patient to die before beginning the organ harvest process would probably render his organs unsuitable for transplant. This doesn’t even address the incredible ethics issues involved, of course. I’m curious about whether you have first-hand knowledge of this case and whether anything was published about it.
I could have sworn it was a **Chicago Hope **where a Donal Logue/Michael Rapaport type took the ER hostage at gunpoint to force them to work on his brother, and when that was failing, he took out his organ donation card and shot himself in the head so his bro could have his heart. I did not see that coming – because you’re watching thinking, well, there’s no way he can donate his heart…
Budd Dwyer gave out organ donation cards before shooting himself in the head. By the time they got him to the hospital his organs weren’t good anymore.
well this is a pretty gruesome conversation, but anyway…
I guess strangling/hanging yourself or drowning would probably be the best ways, but the problem then is getting your organs to the hospital in time. The only thing I can think of is to slit your wrists and literally bleed to death, but only alert emergency services that you are dying when you are sure you’re going to go. Not sure how this will affect the body, but it doesn’t do any direct damage to organs.
if you did hang or drown, you would probably be best calling 999/911 (whatever it is in your country) and letting them know where you are right before you do whatever it is you’re going to do. that way they reach you pretty quickly, but you’re dead by the time they do.
apparently though a very common case of organ donor deaths/ brain deaths is that they’ve been in a car crash. if you’re really desperate, i suppose you could always drive a car into a wall at high speed or something. not really guaranteed but…
In her book, Understanding Suicide, Dr. Kay R. Jamieson includes the story of an unhappy husband who got in bed next to his sleeping wife, turned on an electric carving knife, applied the blade to his throat, and bled to death all over her.
For bonus badass points, collect a bunch of freezer bags with hospital address labels, get a sharp Ginsu knife, and harvest your own organs manually, one by one. Make sure FedEx is standing by to deliver the packages when you’re done. I recommend removing the heart last.
The old practice of taking the prisoner outside the courthouse and putting a bullet into his medulla was quite effective, but did not facilitate organ harvest.
The story goes that they now jail the condemned and feed them a drug which promotes transplantibilty (new word!) before execution - they make/made a tidy profit on kidneys, for instance.
The swallow-the-muzzle is a good way to insure a fatal wound, but it does stop the heart instantly, rendering the organs useless.
Better yet, do so in front of the hospital. Find one that is having major renovations and has scaffolding outside.
So basically, something that causes an instant, massive stroke and brain death.
How about this: get a large-bore IV into your carotid artery.
Go to the ER (I expect you’ll be seen VERY quickly when you go up to the desk and point to the large tube hanging from your neck).
Then inject something that would occlude the artery and go up a bit into the brain, but would “set up” somehow before circulation took it to much of the rest of the body.
I don’t know what that something might be - caulk would be TOO viscous, I imagine. Would talc (as used to seal up pleura; a friend had that done after lung surgery) do the job?
Now, this has the drawback that you have to manage to get an IV into your own carotid (or find some medical person and persuade them this is needed!!) without making yourself keel over right then.
If you can get a large enough gauge in there, you might be able to simply open the clamp at the right moment. Negative pressure should cause a pretty big embolism which will block the blood to the brain.
Ooh! I got it! Get the biggest syringe you can find with a luer lock, and just fill it with air. Attach, unclamp, push fast, and Bob’s your (mourning) uncle. 60cc should do nicely.
Gonna be real grizzly if it doesn’t work, though. Major brain damage.