what're your reasons for not being on the organ donor registry?

Ste_C

shellsuit wrote: »

People shouldn't have to have a reason not to go on it, as I think it's a personal thing.

I've been on it since I was a teenager too, but my husband isn't and it's only something we spoke about a couple of weeks ago having been together for 10 years! He's still not sure about going on it and I respect that. It's his body, not mine.

Is the correct answer.

pimento

essthree wrote: »

...I wouldn't want a donated organ.

The body always rejects them and you have to suppress that rejection for the rest of your life.

I think my 74 year old father who received one of my mother's kidneys in 2006 would disagree with you.
Overnight, he went from a fuzzy headed old man tied to a dialysis machine having survived a couple of bouts of perotinitis to being a sprightly bloke who is in good health and you would never know had been sick.

Yes, he takes a carrier bag full of drugs a day, but he'd be dead by now without the transplant.

If I asked him if he regretted having the transplant, he'd think I was a nutcase.

pimento

Oh and the anti-rejection drugs are getting so good these days that almost any kidney will suit.

katiefinger

essthree wrote: »

... but I wouldn't want a donated organ.

The body always rejects them and you have to suppress that rejection for the rest of your life.

Which would give you the best quality of life ...

a) hooking up to a machine for four hours a session three times a week, possibly an hours drive from home, whilst continuing to work full-time, restricting your fluid intake, being incredibly careful with your diet, feeling lethargic most of the time, not being able to easily go on holiday (or even have one night away), guzzling down oodles of pills to keep your levels in harmony and your bones from becoming brittle, feeling as though you're nothing but a burden to family and friends ...

or

b) accepting the gift of an organ (in this case a kidney) and having fluid/diet restrictions lifted, being able to enjoy a more active social life, feeling less tired and having more energy ... all for the sake of having to take a few pills everyday.

It may not be a cure (and it won't necessarily work) but wouldn't you want the chance of a 'better' life if your outlook for the next fifty years was as bleak as in choice a?

WhiteHorse

suited-aces wrote: »

I assume none of you selfish idiots who refuse be a donor would ever be so hypocritical as to accept a donor organ should you need it?

Let us not forget that 'donor' means 'dead person'.

There are few things ghastlier than someone on TV saying that they are waiting for an organ and that they are 'praying for a donor'.

Hoping for someone else to die tragically, that is. Selfish idiots?

Mupette

brettcta wrote: »

proof por favor

OH used to date a trainee doctor, she told him what they did, the students were quite open about what they did

suited-aces wrote: »

I assume none of you selfish idiots who refuse be a donor would ever be so hypocritical as to accept a donor organ should you need it?

who the hell do you think you are calling selfish... start reading the threads of those who can't not won't

rachhh

I'm not a donor because it's just something I've never agreed with or wanted. Ever since I was little I've been against organ donation and I don't think I'd accept an organ either. I believe that death is a natural thing and that if your organs fail, death is something that's just meant to be and is happening for a reason. I don't believe in taking bits and pieces of others to prolong a life.
My mother hates this, she's always tried to sneakily sign me up to the register. She even changed the boxes on my provisional licence form in the hope that I wouldn't notice. I think organ donation is a personal choice and that choice should be respected.

Mupette

rachhh wrote: »

I'm not a donor because it's just something I've never agreed with or wanted. Ever since I was little I've been against organ donation and I don't think I'd accept an organ either. I believe that death is a natural thing and that if your organs fail, death is something that's just meant to be and is happening for a reason. I don't believe in taking bits and pieces of others to prolong a life.
My mother hates this, she's always tried to sneakily sign me up to the register. She even changed the boxes on my provisional licence form in the hope that I wouldn't notice. I think organ donation is a personal choice and that choice should be respected.

I admire this. I would like to think the same, but i think some would find me two faced, because my mum is still alive because someone died to give her a kidney 25 years ago.

I can't donate, but then again i don't like the posters that think we should not be entitled to anything if we dont opt in ourselves.

I would like to be left to seep back into the earth

purple.sarah

The fact that donors are kept alive by machines during donation puts me off as does the experience of this family I read about online:

"Date: Mon, Sep 1, 2003 4:42 AM From: DeborahDimitrov@monarch.net To: DoktorMo@aol.com Hi;
Our son was determined to be brain dead in 1993. Like most families in this situation, we had only a surface knowledge of brain death. The surgeon explained the process he would use to determine brain death. He said that if our son showed even a slight reaction to any test, he would not be considered brain dead. The worst happened. We donated our son's organs in an attempt to derive something good from a terrible situation. We were told that our son was a perfect candidate for major organ donation. His brain stem had been crushed in an accident but he had no other injuries. He was on a ventilator. As you are probably aware, the patient is kept alive on a ventilator until all of the organs have been removed. This is done in a specific order with the heart being taken last so that the patient's blood continues to flow through all organs until the moment of removal.
A few years later there was a dispute in England among anethesiologists because of the reaction of brain dead patients during the organ retrieval process. Apparently if no anesthetic is used patients react to the pain of incisions by trying to move away from the scaple. At the moment the scalple cuts , the patients blood pressure and heartbeat increase dramatically as well. This is well documented medically but not commonly known by the public. We certainly were never informed of it. Had we been informed we would never have consented to organ retreival and would have let our son die naturally.
I called the organ retrieval team in BC to see if they had used any anesthetic during the procedures on our son. I was told that they do not because the patient would not be considered brain dead if anesthetic were neccessary. The procedure would be considered euthanasia, which is illegal under Canadian Law. They acknowledged the fact that patients do react during the procedure but likened the movement to that of a chicken when it's head has been cut off. You can imagine how this analogy was recieved.
I feel great sympathy for people requiring organ transplants. I can understand the negative effect on the number of organs retrieved, if the above information became common knowlege. As a parent, I feel like I have unwittingly subjected my son to unknown pain. I feel that we were deliberately mislead. The only reason I didn't pursue this legally is because of the devastating effects it would have had on other family members. However that situation will change within the next few years. When it does, I intend to lobby to have this situation corrected.
Deborah Dimitrov, DeborahDimitrov@monarch.net"
http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~mbernste/ethics.braindeath.html

lanavdt

concerned43 wrote: »

Having worked in a transplant unit I have seen how patients at death's door have walked out of the hospital 3 days after there transplant to lead normal lives. However my problem with donation is the definition of 'dead'.
Donors can only come from people who are brain dead - they have not actually died before donation i.e. they are kept on a ventilator until there organs are taken as the organs need to be 'fresh'.
I can't see myself allowing this to happen to my family as I would want to be with them until their last breath and I would also want to see if my loved one's brain could recover from the trauma, which one couldn't if offering organ donation.
Its a difficult one as I would also not hesitate to accept an organ if I needed it. However, I feel there should be more PR put into 'live' donation i.e. kidneys, liver and more research into heart 'regeneration' to avoid the need for so many donor transplants.

Hi sorry to disagree with you but I'd like to put forward my experience
My brother wasn't officially "brain dead" in that the stem was not dead but there was a continuous degeneration of his brain tissue and he would have continued as a vegetable on a ventilator indefinitely if we hadn't agreed to switch it off. There was unfortunately no chance of him ever awakening. And I don't know where you worked but the three of us were able to be by my brother's side during his last few minutes. His ventilator was switched off and we were in with him within seconds. We had 5minutes afterwards to say our final goodbyes and then he was taken to surgery.
The donation team were fantastic at explaining all the steps and the doctors themselves were very reluctant to speak about donation when there was even the slightest chance of my brother recovering.