organ donation,years ago.

amyloofoo

jackyann wrote: »

I was a nurse then; here's what you need to know:
Did he die in an accident or some other event involving immediate "brain death"? Those are the kind of circumstances in which organs are taken for donation. Consent of the person themselves (in advance, relatively unlikely at 16) is needed or the next of kin (as poster above says, possibly his father). Otherwise they would not have been taken for donation.
Did he die of a disease? In that case his organs would not have been used for donation. It is possible that a small amount of tissue or (very rarely a whole organ) was kept for research. This is when consent is theoretically needed, but VERY OCCASIONALLY was not sought. That never happened anywhere I worked, and Judi's distressing experience is very rare.

I would try, up to a point to find out what was said, then as other posters have said, I would lay it to rest as quickly as possible.
I would say, that if you feel you have to contact the hospital, they will be very sympathetic. Most will tell you unequivocally that this never happened. The few where it did are used to dealing with distressed relatives.
Good luck

^^This is some really good knowledge and advice from Jackyann; it's really good to find someone who knows the situation and can help to shed light on this for the OP. I'm in constant awe of the combined knowledge and skills of the MSEers :T

Hope you get the answers you're looking for OP and that this helps to put your Grandmother's mind at rest :grouphug:

LondonDiva

Also bear in mind that medical records tend to be destroyed between 5-25 years, depending on the situation.

themull1

Why would anyone want organs back? is it for religious reasons? i'm not religious and it wouldnt bother me if organs were removed.

I don'tmean to offend anyone, just interested.

System

To dispose of them like they should have been disposed of in the first place.

123louisa

I read the original post as that the mother was under heavy sedation and cant remember if she gave permission for Organ Donation, or seeing anything to say the son had?

Maybe PALS is a good place to start the enquiries?

System

I can remember my ex husband signing the consent form for a hospital post mortem. You dont have to give consent for a post mortem.

NAR

Judi wrote: »

I can remember my ex husband signing the consent form for a hospital post mortem. You dont have to give consent for a post mortem.

Correct Judi, my nephew and 2 nieces decided against one when their mother(my SIL) died aged 42 as it wasn't going to bring her back.

System

Yes, with hindsight this is what we should have done but we needed to know that it wasnt genetic before we went on to have more children.

I found out in 2001 that they suspected she might have Turners syndrome but it wasnt the case.

asparagus1968

sorry not been back.thank you all for your thoughts.

good news,my uncle HAD A DONOR card! apparantly he got it when he got his motorbike and also discussed it with a close relative too.

gramdmother isn't a patient by the way,it was a family friend who was a nurse at the time in the same hospital who spoke to her a couple of years after his death.

anyhow,she is at peace that he didn't want to take his body intact with him ,if you see what i mean.

heartbreak_star

Thanks for the update and sorry to anyone who has had problems with this kind of thing.

Genuine curiosity here - I'm with themull1 - what does it matter really? If you're religious, surely it's just the shell that's left behind? If you died of a disease, you could be helping save others from the disease...I really don't understand I guess. I read stories of people reduced to hysterics because a tissue sample was taken and preserved from the baby they so sadly lost, for research. I've heard of funerals for wax blocks with said preserved tissue in, which is crazy IMO!

Maybe it's because I worked in a histology lab that handled such samples, but I really don't understand the fuss about organ harvesting.

I'm all for an opt-out scheme for organ donation rather than opt-in.

Again, apologies if my curiosity offends people - it's certainly not meant that way - and I am sorry for those of you that have or have had issues with this in the past.

HBS x