An interesting (well, interesting to me, anyway) precedent to the organ donation debate is the history of dialysis. When kidney dialysis was introduced, very few hospitals had the technology, few dialysis machines were available, and getting dialysis was just about as difficult then as getting a transplant is today.
Since only a few of the many people who needed dialysis to survive could receive it, questions naturally cropped up. Who gets dialysis? Should it be based on need (e.g. the sickest people in danger of imminent death get preference over the less-sick people)? Or should the “value” of the individual’s life be taken into account? (e.g. should a young mother who suffered kidney failure from no fault of her own get dialysis before an elderly person who neglected his/her health?)
Now dialysis is widely available; in my nursing career, I’ve dealt more with the ethical issue of people who require dialysis to live but refuse to have it. Typically, the doctor will push too hard to give the patient dialysis, while the patient emphatically refuses to accept the treatment. (BTW, as a patient advocate, I take the patient’s side.)
I’ve made it very clear that I’m an organ donor. If I have anything worth salvaging, for heaven’s sake, take it. On the other hand, I wouldn’t consider accepting an organ transplant to save my own life. :shrug: After working in ICU for a little while, you learn this lesson: death is not the worst thing that can happen to you.
In my experience, those families who opt to donate their loved one’s organs are comforted by that decision. It helps them to know that a part of that person lives on. I’ve received many letters from families of former patients who wanted to thank me for helping them through the ordeal, and they unanimously feel that donation helped to ease their grief.
No; nobody should be forced to relinquish their body parts without consent. Whenever patients’ families have refused donation, I’ve taken their side and protected them from the “vultures” (the people who arrange for donation and transplantation). In some cases, I’ve been the recipient of extreme anger from the vultures, but my choice is clear: the patient and his or her family takes priority over the organ peoples’ wishes. (Of course, then I have to go home and try to sleep knowing those undonated organs would have saved the lives of several sick people, but as long as I know I’ve protected the rights of my patient, I can rest easy.)