I was reading another message board’s discussion of this story and the topic of organ donation made someone propose an idea of only allowing organ transplants to go to those who are registered as organ donors… In other words, if you have some religious/cultural issue with keeping all your organs when you die, why should you benefit from someone else who is willing to give theirs up to save a life?
What are your thoughts on such an idea? Is this done in any countries currently? Part of me thinks this would cause some lawsuits from religious folk who say their religious beliefs make them more apt to dying and equating that with discrimination. The other part of me thinks this would be a great way to get more people to be donors and lessen the transplant lists.
Full disclosure: I had a donor kidney transplant in 2000 and a cadaveric kidney/liver transplant in 2001.
First, it’s problematic to distinguish between people who can’t donate on medical grounds with those who won’t donate on philosophical grounds.
Second, I’d venture to say that the best way to encourage people to become organ donors is to make them see first-hand the benefits it can provide. Give a kidney to one staunch anti-donator and perhaps you say his whole family to become donors themselves.
If you’re going to go that far, why not just make all cadavers property of the state and have automatic harvesting?
I don’t really mind preferring organ doners, if two candidates are equal but not giving the best candidate an organ, in order to make a point, is a little dodgy imo.
For at least some of us, such a rule would go against the very reason we choose to be organ donors. Specifically, they aren’t going to be any use to me, and if there’s a way they could help someone (and there is), I’d want that to happen.
I’d have a big problem with a rule that stopped my organs going to the patient who would have their life improved most from receiving them–I’m a donor because I want my organs to help other people to the greatest extent possible, and restricting organ donation on any ground other than medical need and suitability for transplant frustrates that intent.
/Sign a donor card. Tell your family. It costs you nothing, and saves lives.
My problem with the organ donor system is that it’s opt-in and they don’t seem to really try and make you aware of it or even ask you if you want to do it. You have to bring it up yourself (or at least I did.)
Personally, I think that most people would be perfectly happy to donate but are too squeamish/shy to put themselves out there. If you made it an opt-out system, I’d venture to guess that 80% of everyone would be listed.
I agree with Sage Rat. I think that if we simply switched to a system where consent for organ donation is implied unless you choose to opt out (while of course making it very simple to opt out - i.e., just put a sticker on your driver’s license or something of that nature) it would solve a lot of problems. The people who are actively opposed to organ donation are the minority compared to the large number of people who are simply too apathetic to bother agreeing to donate. As long as the minority who are against it retain their right to refuse in a way that doesn’t create a big burden, I see nothing wrong with changing it so that organ donation is the default option.
Most people who are potential recipients (of, say, a kidney) are NOT going to be good candidates to donate due to their organ failure. The same would probably be true for liver, heart and lung. Corneas may be the exception.
It wouldn’t work. I donated a kidney because my brother in law needed one, not because he was willing to give one (Honestly, as badly as he abused his while developing diabetes, I doubt that anyone would have wanted his after a point.)
Donation, live donation at least, is not an entirely rational decision.
Well it’s not like you know when you’re going to die and need an organ or whether you’ll live but contract a disease and you’ll end up needing an organ rather than being able to donate yours. It just seems logical that in order to take advantage of a system, you’d be willing to pay into the system. It works (theoretically) for social security, no?
The OP’s idea seems like it would turn an altruistic act into something more selfish, more like buying insurance than giving a gift. You’ll get another source of donors by offering an incentive, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you hurt your donations from your current sources.
I think the default should be that the government keeps it’s hands to itself if it doesn’t have permission.
My husband was an organ donor. When I was approached at the hospital, I thought the nurse’s attitude made it more likely someone might turn them down. Not because she was unkind or rude or anything negative, but she was very tentative about asking me if I would agree to the donation. She seemed to be expecting a no, which would have made saying no easier.
Now, it’s not that I want hospitals to bully or browbeat people into donating their loved ones’ organs, but I felt she just should have said, “I need to notify you that your husband declared himself an organ donor” and then leave it there. Instead, she had to cringingly ask me for permission.
If things are stated as facts, they are more likely to go through than if they’re asked as questions, especially hesitant ones.
Fish, I cheer for you! Long ago, I had a friend die waiting for a liver transplant. I’ve had my donor card signed for years. It only feels a little icky before you sign the card. Afterwards, you feel cool.
Now I worry that I am getting too old for them to want me. Is there a cut-off date for transplanting old organs? I might be a stop-gap measure. Hell, I wouldn’t care.
It used to be the case in France until…I don’t remember when. In theory, if you hadn’t registered your opposition, you were assumed to be an organ donor. But in practice, it was never put into effect. The medical staff would ask the family and defer to their wishes. Which probably resulted in fact in less organ donated, since nobody was registered as wanting to donate, hence the default position of the family might have been to refuse.
See also ** jsgoddess** post, where she’s still timidly asked even though her husband was a registered organ donor.
I think that actually implementing such a law would be PR nightmare, and suspect that many or most medical staffers would refuse to do so.