Tyler Durden

WC Hall Of Famer

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6902519.stm

"Everyone should be seen as a potential organ donor on their death unless they expressly request not to be" England's chief medical officer says.

Sir Liam Donaldson calls for a system of "presumed consent" to be introduced in England to tackle chronic shortages of organs."

What is your take on this? Presumed consent a good idea?

Only 20% of the population carry donor cards/are signed up to donate but 70% say they don't mind their organs being taken after death.

So is this the best way forward so that lives are saved and the minority (30%) can just opt out.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

So what is the deal here?

Are they wanting to take everyones organs after they die?

If that is what they are saying that is wrong. People should have a say whether they want to donate their organs or not because it is against some people's religous beliefs.

emmathe37th

Pretty much, but you can choose not to. I think it's a pretty good idea. Think of if you needed a donated heart or whatever but died because someone just hadn't gotten round to saying 'yeah sure, have mine when I die'.

I'd want to know what I would look like if my organs were removed. (when I was dead of course...) I couldn't put my family through looking at me in a casket looking like a deflated balloon.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

Yeah, in that case my opinion is no.

People should have to opt in, not opt out.

Beaker

That would cause so many more problems for the government/hospitals or what ever. If they presume I want my organs cut out, but I just didn't get around to getting a card saying I keep mine, then that would be a major law suit on someone's hands. Everyone I know pretty much knows I want my organs, I don't wanna be hacked up at my funeral. I plan on an open casket, so missing an organ may cause people to get sick while looking at me. I don't know, I just feel I should be "all there" when buried

U MAD

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I agree.

They should have no right to take people's organs without their consent. This will just cause a lot of legal problems like you said.

I don't want to be on organ donor.

The Half Boy

The thing is, the idea is that it would be a LAW that was passed. So you couldn't escape from the fact by "not getting around to declaring intent."

It's simple really, all you'd have to do is carry something like the donor cards now, but instead of being to give consent, it's to stop them harvesting you.

And the arguement about it altering your body for an open casket is moot. Funeral services prepare bodies for open casket viewings, and sometimes this will include placing items into the body to return it to it's original shape, as well as the standard things such as using make up to make you look more normal.

I can remember a case where someone had donated bones. I think in this particular instance, it was leg bones. THe undertakers use specially constructed metal bones to replace those removed for donation, and in the suit the cadaver is buried in, there's no way to tell the difference.

Tomorrow's Just An Excuse Away,
So I Pull My Collar Up And Face The Cold, On My Own.
The Earth Laughs Beneath My Heavy Feet,
At The Blasphemy In My Old Jangly Walk.

Invictus

I don't understand why people want their relatives and friends to see them when they are dead.

When I'm dead, I'm dead, I don't really care what I look like at the moment, my presentation when I'm dead is the very least of my concerns.

Vanity vs saving someones life because they can have my organs?

Not really a choice for me, they can have whatever they want then cremate me. I'd hope people remember what I look like when I'm alive then when i'm dead.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

It is not about that for me.

It is just a personal belief that the body should remain intact. I don't knock anyone for donating organs, just not the right thing for me.

Erin

Monk's First Lady

If I can save someone else after I'm dead, of course they can have my organs. I have a card.

Dak, I think if you ever were a patient at the hospital I am, and you saw the hundreds of kids there who need organ transplants, and what their families were going through, you would have a different opinion. It's absolutly devastating.