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I made the decision a long time ago that when I die, I want my organs donated. I'm marked as an organ donor on my ID and I told my family of my decision (lots of people don't know that before the doctors can do anything with your organs, no matter how dead you are, they have to have signed permission from your family). It's just the responsible, humane thing to do in my opinion.
Are you an organ donor, why or why not? There's so much misinformation and confusion when it comes to organ donation that I think a lot of people who would otherwise donate are scared off.
I am an organ donor. Sometimes I am scared of being one, because people have told me-whether or not it's true-that doctors don't try to save the organ donors as much because they want to use the organs for the people who need them, because there could be the possibility that the people needing them could survive better than the person with the organs, but I am hoping that's just a bunch of crap!
My 11 year old son wants to be an organ donor because he likes the idea of being able to save people. So of course I will let him do it if anything happened (I pray to God it doesn't)...but then I think about it, and for some reason it doesn't feel...right to me. I wouldn't be burying my whole son. Someone would be walking around with pieces of my baby in them, and I know that is stupid and wrong and I don't know why I feel like that, but I do and I hope I can overcome that.
I am an organ donor. Sometimes I am scared of being one, because people have told me-whether or not it's true-that doctors don't try to save the organ donors as much because they want to use the organs for the people who need them, because there could be the possibility that the people needing them could survive better than the person with the organs, but I am hoping that's just a bunch of crap!.
YES, that is a bunch of crap. The doctors who harvest your organs are NOT the same team of doctors who care for you in the emergency room. Doctors and nurses are devoted to saving your life first and foremost, not in fulfilling some "organ quota". The fear that they won't try as hard to save you is an old one I keep hearing from people, and it's entirely undeserved. The hospital only calls in a harvesting team after your family gives signed permission to donate your organs. Also, if (heaven forbid!) your son was to die, organ donation does not mutilate the body. You could still have an open-casket funeral, for instance.
I am an organ donor. There are 4 generations of volunteer firefighters & paramedics in my family. I learned very early in life about the trauma patients who were saved from accidents & didn't make it because of injuries to internal organs, burn victims who need skin, etc. For me, I don't see the sense of wasting something that has the potential to save multiple lives.
Yes,When I was a little girl in Sunday school I was told our bodies are only a house for our soul. I made the decision to become a donor after my brother passed. He drowned in a river at the age of 22. When I touched him I knew without a doubt. OUR BODIES ARE ONLY A HOUSE FOR OUR SOULS! Everything about him was gone. His soul had left this earth to go to heaven!
Burn victims! One of my worst fears is to be horribly burned. I saw a black lady the other day who had burn marks on her face where, even after the skin had grown back, it was leeched of its pigment so she had these white patches on her face. I felt so terrible for her, thinking of the burns she must've suffered. I've heard of people who have surgery to correct their obesity donating their excess skin for skin grafts, etc., for burn victims.
Id also like to be an organ donor(but only after im really dead) But then if im dead, wont my organs die in minutes? I know the corneas can live for several hours post motem and those corneas can save some blind people.
Id also like to be an organ donor(but only after im really dead) But then if im dead, wont my organs die in minutes? I know the corneas can live for several hours post motem and those corneas can save some blind people.
What happens is, after you're pronounced brain dead (in other words, there ain't nobody upstairs) the doctors hook you up to respirators and machines to keep your organs alive until they can either a) get permission to harvest your organs or b) disconnect you so your family can bury you. If permission is granted, the harvest team comes in and takes the organs, douses them with a special fluid that cools the organs to preserve them, packs them in ice, and then they're flown to different hospitals to be transplanted into needy patients. Different organs can survive for different periods of time outside the body.
Kidneys can survive from 48 to 72 hours.
Livers survive up to 24 hours.
Hearts survive 4 to 6 hours.
Pancreases can survive 12 to 24 hours.
Lung up to 4 to 6 hours.
Corneas survive 7 to 10 days.
Bone Marrow survive up to 3 years.
Skin and bones can last 5 years or more.
I thought about it but I was scared off because I though they may just let me die so they can take my organs....
I would like everything to be in-tact when they bury me though.
As mentioned above, doctors and hospitals will NOT allow you to die just to harvest your organs. There are very strict federal laws controlling organ donation; it is illegal to buy or sell organs; and the doctors who attend you in the emergency room are NOT the same doctors who do the organ harvesting, so they have nothing to gain by allowing you to die.
As for intactness of the body, the body is repaired after donation so that it is viewable during a funeral, etc. You won't be mutilated. Almost all major religions either support donation or leave the decision up to the individual. The only exceptions I know of are Roma (Gypsies) and Shinto (native Japanese) faiths. And as for intact -- are you planning to be buried with your baby teeth? Your tonsils? Your hair clippings?
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