Oregonians: Are you on the Oregon DMV organ donor list? (Gates: transplants, to live)

[5gables]

When I got my new license at the DMV, I was kind of on the fence about it but decided no to being on the organ donor list. However, this is the kind of situation where I wouldn't mind being a follower. If the majority of Oregonians are on the organ donor list then I would feel more comfortable about it, hence this poll.

[PNW-type-gal]

Yes.

I have had two donor corneas transplanted, so whatever I can pass along I will. Someone gave me the gift of sight, what I can give back, I will.

[freidenbach]

I work in the healthcare field and know that there is always a pressing need for organ donors.

In addition to the DMV I've signed up with the Donate Life Northwest Registry, and I carry a card in my billfold to that effect.

https://www.donatelifenw.org/register-now

This site allows you to exclude certain organs from donation, if you wish. You can also specify that you don't want organs used for medical research.

[seashelly]

Originally Posted by freidenbach

............

You can also specify that you don't want organs used for medical research.

Oh, I never thought about them being used for medical research. I just assumed they were given to someone 'if the shoe fit' so to speak. Good to know.

[Heidi60]

Good to know...#3 is the one that has previously made the news. Also, while people donate their organs, the medical industry makes a good profit from them.

And, Chinese owned Smithfield wants in on the industry https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...ic+-+Health%29


https://occupytheory.org/organ-donat...and-cons-list/


CONS OF ORGAN DONATION
1. Do Not Get To Choose
When a person donates their organs, they have very little say over where they will eventually end up. For those who are particularly religious, the idea that their internal organs may be used to help someone of a different faith may too much for them to bear. The recipient could also have a vastly different view on politics than the donor.

In order to confidently donate organs, the person has to be someone who believes that all human life is equally important. Unless the person has a great sense of gratitude and is truly appreciate of the gift of life, they may not feel comfortable with the idea of giving their organs to just anyone.

Paying it forward is the primary motivation for organ donation and while this is a great concept to live by, there is a large group of people who do not believe in the idea.

2. Family Confusion
If a person has agreed to donate their organs, then their body is usually kept on life support, even if there is no chance of true resuscitation. The body remains hooked up to a ventilator, so that the organs are in prime condition when they are removed. This also decreases the chance that the new organs could attack the body of the host.

Many families do not enjoy this prospect and the concept of seeing their loved one’s organs removed before they have actually passed may be too much to bear. Being connected to a ventilator is obviously not the same as truly being alive, but for families who have watched the person they love fight off death, the harvesting of organs before the body has gone cold can seem ghoulish or unnecessary.

3. Lesser Treatment From Doctors
Like many of the downsides to organ donation, this is based on complete and total misinterpretation of the rules in place. Some people are against the idea of donating their organs because they have the belief that it will affect the quality of medical treatment they receive from a doctor.

They think that if a doctor knows they are willing to donate their organs, this will cause the doctor to adjust the way they treat them and provide care. A doctor is a professional and there is no way for them to objectively rank the importance of one person’s life versus another.

The surgeon who removes your organs is going to be a different person that the doctor who is assigned to save your life. A doctor is never going to make the decision to let you perish so that they can use your organs and donate them to someone they like better. This is unethical and there is no proof that something like this has ever taken place.

4. Transplants Can Be Dangerous
Certain people are more than happy to give the gift of life to a fortunate recipient. Unfortunately, organ transplants are not always foolproof. Complications do arise from time to time and a donor who wished to give a person the ever important gift of life may end up giving them the exact opposite.

[PNW-type-gal]

Someone that is religious worrying that an organ donation might not go to the "right" kind of person? I'd say that religious person might worry more over their reception at whatever their religion's version of the "Pearly Gates" is.

As far as organ transplant not going well, of course that is a possibility - but then you aren't a transplant candidate (usually) unless you need that transplant to live.

The biggest issue I see is not organ donation but tissue donation. Organ donation is pretty straightforward. The transplant lists are long and they need everything they can get and they need it right now. Tissue donation a bit less straightforward. Your skin might go to help a burn victim - but then it might go to some plastic surgery outfit at a tidy profit to the tissue donation center. The whole profit issue in tissue donation does bug me a bit.

The entire story of Henrietta Lacks is one involving tissue (not donated and with no disclosure - although that was fairly common at the time) not organs.