# Organ donation PSA **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 25, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206 "2016-01-25T21:25:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/61 "2016-02-04T22:14:52Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Yes, the intent would be to include anyone that consents, regardless of suitability. As well as any of those that cannot legally consent (children, etc.). > > And contrary to what **Smapti** said, it is not a punishment, since no one has _rights_ to another’s organs in the first place. You simply don’t get the benefits of the system if you consciously choose not to participate in it. Anyone that decides not to participate is in the exact same position as they’d be in if _everyone_ used the same moral calculus. Sorry, missed one to respond to… This exactly. Thank you for stating it so well. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/62 "2016-02-05T01:55:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I, as an individual, cannot affect the state of the beef industry by my choices as a consumer. If I abstained from eating beef for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t amount to a single cow not being slaughtered. If _lots_ of people were to start abstaining from beef, it would have an observable effect. The extent of my consumption is too small to be measurable on a practical scale and therefore may as well be zero. Your opinion has the same moral weight as someone who, with nine friends, beats a man to death, and then claims innocence because they did not land the killing blow, and that their blows alone would not have been sufficient to kill. > [@Smapti](#): > > Getting back to the issue of organs, it’s not possible for me to “create demand”. The demand _exists_ because of the facts of human biology. I can’t just choose to _not_ need a new kidney, for instance. It is not just biology. You create demand by participating as a recipient. If everyone on Earth had a religious or other opposition to receiving transplanting organs, there would be no demand for organs, no matter how many people listed themselves as donors. You can choose to not need a new kidney, by choosing to live with dialysis or simply choosing to die. I would not murder an innocent to preserve my own life, and if I believed that organ donation led to innocent lives lost, I wouldn’t accept one. Fortunately, I don’t have to live with that cognitive dissonance, but you do. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/63 "2016-02-05T02:45:58Z")
Folks, you’re wasting your time and energy. You’re arguing with someone who has been shaped in an extremely disfunctional way by a single moment in his life, one he refuses to move past, and whose behavior borders on fanaticism when it comes to this and similar topics. You’re banging your heads on a denser than brick wall. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/64 "2016-02-05T02:58:43Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > You’re banging your heads on a denser than brick wall. I don’t expect to convince **Smapti** of anything. But I don’t want any lurkers to get the idea that there’s any merit at all to his opinion. Scientists don’t debate with creationists in order to convince their debate partner to change their mind. The audience is the target. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/65 "2016-02-05T03:43:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So you’re saying that the possibility of having your organs harvested _is_ scary, then? No, feeling entitled to someone else’s organs while refusing to sign up for saving someone AFTER YOUR DEATH with your own organs because it’s scawwy – that’s cowardly. If you don’t want to donate, why would you feel entitled to receive donated organs? You don’t want to run the infinitesimal risk that a doctor may go above and beyond to save your life in order to harvest your organs, but you are just fine with someone else running that same risk in order to save your life? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/66 "2016-02-05T06:54:26Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > If you don’t want to donate, why would you feel entitled to receive donated organs? You don’t want to run the infinitesimal risk that a doctor may go above and beyond to save your life in order to harvest your organs, but you are just fine with someone else running that same risk in order to save your life? I’m also not a firefighter, and yet I would still expect one to attempt to rescue me if I were trapped in a burning building. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/67 "2016-02-06T01:33:10Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > There’s no need to make it mandatory or even a default opt-in. Just make it so that if you aren’t a donor, you don’t get put on the recipient list (assuming you have normal adult cognitive abilities). > > People like **Smapti** can then base their moral calculus on weighing the potential lost lifetime due due not having an organ versus the infinitesimal possibility of dying early due to organ harvesting. Would you at least make an exception for people who are unsuited to be organ donors but might need to be organ recipients one day? For example people with genetic diseases, or cancer survivors? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/68 "2016-02-06T02:03:07Z")
As I mentioned in subsequent posts, suitability would not be a requirement. It would not even come up in the process. The DMV never asked for my medical records, and yet I have the little red DONOR circle anyway. That would be the only condition. One other thing that I did not mention would be a grace period. Allow people to opt-in starting at perhaps 16 years old, but only enforce the requirement at 21. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206/69 "2016-02-06T02:11:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [It happens.](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hospital-errors-lead-to-dead-patient-opening-eyes-during-organ-harvesting/) It’s the biggest reason I’ve decided not to be an organ donor and I’ve let my family know that my organs are not to be donated on my behalf - I don’t trust for-profit corporations to make the right decision between spending money to save my life, and making money by taking my organs at no cost and making a profit off their transplant. There are a lot of things wrong with that story, one of which is that I can’t imagine someone dying with a system loaded with drugs like that would be a candidate for being a donor. Maybe the moral is don’t go to that hospital if you have an emergency. I went to a hospital where I got the worst emergency care I’ve ever had (out of town), the doctor stank of cigarettes and weighed about 300lbs, and over the next year, I read of three cases where that hospital was culpable for incompetence. Two patients died, and one woman lost both lower legs (she was drunk, and that contributed to it, but still…) Anyway, there are some hospitals you avoid; you don’t avoid being a donor because of them. BTW, there are still a few things you can do if you die of cancer of an infection. I had a friend in college who died of meningitis, and he could still be a cornea donor. I remembered that, and when my father died of cancer 15 years later, I asked if they could use his corneas, and they could. It’s not the same thing as getting a heart or lung, but to the person who gets the cornea, it’s a big deal. Also, I have a friend who has fibromyalgia, so she figures she probably can’t be an organ donor. She’s signed up to be a med school cadaver. She even OK’d them to use her as a skeleton afterwards. I know this, because she’s divorced, no kids, and her parents are dead, so I promised her that if there are any cremated remains to “handle,” I’d sprinkle her over a location I think I probably shouldn’t disclose here. I also promised to take any cats she has. Personally, I’m a donor, and I’ve told my husband I’d\*\* rather\*\* be a donor than have then use heroic measures to keep me alive but vegetative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/organ-donation-psa/744206.md?page=3)