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

emmell

I am not on the register, I may be naive but I thought organs were harvested from a body that's still 'alive' and a dead bodies organs are no good. I would hate the thought that not enough was being done for myself or a member of my family to aid recovery.
My Mum 'died' in my arms just as paramedics arrived. The paramedics shocked my Mum and worked on her for what seemed like forever and managed to get a faint heartbeat, she was put on a ventilator at our local hospital and the Dr's kept questioning us whether our Mum had a good quality of life because she could be left with permanent brain damage. Getting an intensive care bed seemed an impossible task, after much pleading from us my Mum was taken in an intensive care ambulance 35 miles away, we were told to expect the worse.
When she arrived at intensive care they kept telling us they were keeping her in a drug induced coma and if they could wake her up in 24hrs she would probably be brain damaged. About one hour later my Mum started to pull the breathing tube out the nurses said it was just an involuntary reaction, next minute they were all round her bed, she had woken up on her own. You cannot imagine the delight that me and my family felt only to be knocked back again by the Dr and nurses taking us into a 'quiet room' and telling us this was temporary, my Mum's heart was so damaged it couldn't sustain life and would we sign a DNR. No chance, we had seen her, she had spoken to us.
Next day, when we arrived she had been taken from ICU to the coronary care ward, we walked in and the first words she said was "Have you brought me any biscuits", we then knew we'd got our Mum back.
Now to cut a lot longer story short, how much faith should I now have in the medical profession to get a diagnosis of 'death' right, they couldn't even kill her off with a bout of MRSA followed by C diff.
So still in the back of my mind lingers, are they absolutely sure I'm dead?
Having said all this, I would donate a part of my body 'live' to any of my family and close friends without hesitation. I'm lucky in the fact that the part of my body that has been replaced is my knee, so nobody had to give their life, and the same goes for the other knee I'm having replaced in January.
So I'm well and truly, 'on the fence'.
ML.

essthree

katiefinger wrote: »

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?

I don't think I would choose option a either.

dizziblonde

No, I'm not on the register - and I have no intention of joining or having to justify my personal choices to some random e-vigilante on the internet either.

Personal choice.

suited-aces

Mupette wrote: »

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



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

I would have thought that by saying "refuse", I was making it pretty clear that I was referring to those who won't, not cant. Then again, I shouldn't be expecting those sorts of people to understand such subtleties.

suited-aces

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.

Where do you end that logic though? Refuse all medical treatment? Refuse glasses as you're just meant to have deteriorating eyesight?

giraffe69

There is an awful lot of hot air in this thread.
1. No-one has to justify themselves however tihs started as a thread asking why people did not join
2. If you feel strongly you don't want to do this then whether your reason is good, bad or indifferent you have an absolute right not to and changing the system from opt in to opt out won't change this

We have become better at keeping people alive and in a reasonable state of health and one way of doing this is by transplant. I think this should be encouraged(but not forced). There may be good reasons for not donating but wheeling out the bogeymen i.e. medical students wandering about abusing spare parts, doctors not keeping you alive because they wish to harvest your organs and you not really being dead either rather suggests that there isn't really a good reason thgat can be advanced.
In the end if we switch to opt out those who feel strongly will do so but the number of organs donated will rise to everyone's benefit. If we do this then, of course, there need to be safeguards but in the current system there is no reliable evidence of medical staff behaving irresponsibly or criminally and I don't see why they should be that likely to start now.

katejo

I have been on the donor register for many years and have no objection at all to donating. Were I ever to need one myself, I would feel bad about taking one if I were not willing to give (if my medical condition allowed it.

anguk

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.

You mustn't have worked on a kidney transplant unit then because this is not true with kidney donations. 25% of kidney donations come from "non-heart-beating" donors, they are brain dead, their heart has stopped and they're not on a ventilator.

I'm on the donor register, my husband is on the transplant register. In order to stay alive he is hooked up to a dialysis machine in hospital for 5 hours a day, 3 days a week. He takes loads of medication and is constantly tired, he doesn't have a great quality of life. He has been doing this for the last 4 years. Twice he has been called into hospital for a potential transplant, first time he was just a back-up (they call a back-up in just incase one of the potential recipients can't have the op for some reason) and two other people were lucky enough to receive a new kidney. The second time he was the matched recipient but unfortunately he wasn't in good health at the time and couldn't have the transplant, two other people had their lives transformed instead.

I respect that it's a very personal choice and I don't think anyone is stupid or selfish for refusing to donate, it's up to them, but I do think those who refuse to donate should not be able to receive organs themselves. That may seem harsh but it's how I feel. There are exceptions of course, for example if someone can't donate for medical reasons.

I would prefer an opt-out system, people who feel strongly about not donating are much more likely to opt-out than those who would be happy to donate but never get round to opting-in. Even with an opt-out system organs wouldn't just be taken from someone, their families would still have the final say as they do now.

chris-norfolk

Hi all, please give a thought to the feelings of people who feel very sad and isolated because they are prevented from any organ or blood donating simply because they were related to a family member who has died with cjd, or having themself to undergo chemo ect, i dont think these guys need your selfish and somewhat arrogant comments.
Do they need to explain there reasons to you ? and if so why

suited-aces

Can you please point out where anyone has criticised people who CAN'T donate?