Nothing. Yup. Nothing. I do not want anything done to my body after I die. See, I don’t know what happens after death. No one knows. Who can say for sure what happens? All I know is that I am a product of natural process and would therefore not like to interfere with the in the post death natural process. I think it would be best if my corpse is just left alone exposed to the atmosphere to be consumed by bacteria or maggots whatever, in the open just as what would have happened happen had I not been of the human species.
But I know that will not happen, because it will be against established norms and practices of the society that I live in.
That pretty much says it for me, too. I don’t care who else does it, but I would never want to give or receive of myself. Aveguy is signed up as an organ donor and thats fine with me as long as I never see the results. I’ve already told him that I don’t want to know who has his goods, cause if I see his eyes looking out of somebody elses face I will punch them. Creeps me right the fuck out.
True, but a number of churches(Catholics among them) allow cremation. I believe that even during the middle ages they said it was okay as long as your bones were buried in consecrated ground.
Be sure that his wishes are also on some other document other than his will. Normally, wills are not read until way after the death. Obviously, the decision for organ donation must be made before you actually die so be sure he has some other means of making his wishes known. Your state probably has a organ donation site that would be helpful in making sure he has the right documents on him.
Also, I recommend that you tell many people of your wishes. At the time of your death, your spouse/parent are not going to be in the best mindset to be thinking about organ donation and burial wishes.
Interesting group - I haven’t heard of them before, but their reasons for not donating their organs seem to be quite similar to mine. Frankly, the whole idea that there is a United Network for Organ Sharing contracted by the Federal government to decide who gets what organs smacks of Soviet style central planning to me, which I find extremely distasteful.
According to hlanelee he wasn’t brain dead and the vultures were already circling waiting for his organs. How certain are they that someone won’t recover before they start asking?
I am still undecided. Initially, when I was much younger, I thought it was a good thing, it could save many lives but then some other things about it started to bother me.
I was/am an environmentalist and I started hearing hunters and the government use the term “harvest” for when they wanted to wipe out large amounts of wildlife. Then I heard the term “harvest” used for taking organs for donations. This just rubbed me the wrong way. They made people sound like a crop.
I’ve heard about cases of this disease or that disease being transferred to organ recipients because they were always in such a hurry to “harvest” that sometimes they didn’t bother to find out why the donor died first or if they had an underlying disease. “Oh, he was hit by a bus so he must have been healthy otherwise.” These people had been waiting for something that would save their lives only to die because they were given “bad” organs. This makes me feel like they still didn’t have the process perfected and that it was more about quantity than quality.
Then you see the movies and television shows where someone is kept alive only because of their potential as an organ donor and as soon as the next of kin arrives it’s “sorry for your loss, we want to cut him open and take all his organs now, is that okay with you?” Yes, I know they are fiction but they must be based on reality. It just seems very cold and impersonal to me. Sure they want to use the organs to save other lives but it seems like there is no concern for the life that had to be lost, it was just a crop to be harvested.
Finally, my father died a few years ago. He was in his late 70’s, he had emphysema and his organs failed in his last few days so we knew at least they wouldn’t be pestering us for his orgrans. He had had a corneal transplant a few years earlier, it didn’t really help him much and his eyes scarred. After he passed we went home with my mom and no sooner did we get in the door than the phone rang, my mother answered it. It was the hospital wanting to know if they could have his corneas! She got very angry, said no, he was 78 years old, he’d had corneal transplants and the corneas were scarred. She was very upset that they hadn’t even bothered to look at his history (or even his corneas, apparently) before they called her. If you are going to make such a call to next of kin after a recent loss you should check their damn medical history first!
So, I don’t have the boxed checked. I don’t have anything in writing either way and I don’t think I’ve ever discussed this with my next of kin. I might accept organs to save my life or a family members life, but I can’t bring myself to make the decision to donate for myself or a family member, so maybe that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.
I don’t know what I’m waiting for to be able to decide, maybe some definitive test that says whether there is no hope of recovery or not. Or a policy that hospitals can’t inform next of kin of brain death and ask for organs at the same time, perhaps they have to wait 15 minutes between informing the NOK and asking for organ donation so there’s a little bit of time for it to sink in. Perhaps I just need reassurances.
I know that all of the arguments for it are good, I know it has saved many lives but there is just something about the whole process that still bothers me.
Lord help me, I am keeping my innards after I die and there ain’t nothing anyone can do about it.
And my reason is stupid. Really, really stupid.
I believe that, after death, whatever you have with you (internally speaking) will follow you into the afterlife. Give your lungs away, then in heaven you aint got no lungs.
See, stupid.
It gets worse. You see, I don’t know if there is a afterlife. I haven’t found my particular “truth” so I don’t follow a religion, I don’t know what happens after death and I don’t want my organs taken out because it might screw up an afterlife I am not sure I believe in.
again I say, stupid.
Now my wife, she has told me on many occasions that she will donate anything she can when she dies. It is something she is passonate about because her mother, who would have been an organ doner, couldn’t do it because cancer just ravaged her body. So she believes that when her times comes she will do whatever she can to fulfill her mothers wish. I accept that and if she goes first I will see that she will donate, but I’ve told her if we meet in heaven and all of her innards are gone I am going to tease her so badly.
That is, of course, if there is a heaven.
God I am so stupid.
I am all for organ donation. After all, I am not gonna need them after I die. If they could help someone else live, then I would feel great about that.
I can see how the thought of organ donation can make one a bit squeemish. They are taking your inner bits that are you and putting them in someone else.
Kinda weird, but kinda cool too.
I read this book called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and it had a section discussing organ donation, and the process that it is. The whole book gave a new perspective on death and the science and history of organ and body donantion.
I’m sure glad my brother was in favor of organ donation. He gave me one of his kidneys. At first it kinda weirded me out to know I was walking around with part of his guts in me. I wouldn’t wish kidney dialysis on my worst enemy. Totally changed my life. And, yes I have an organ doner card.