For Anne (spiritdogs) & Mike - Come on everyone.

 As someone directly affected by organ donation(my mom had a liver transplant that saved her life) I have been an organ donor ever since.  I also give blood when I can, who knows what shape my body will be in when I die, and giving blood is at least something I can do now.

Jeez....I feel like a really terrible person, but I'm not a donor. I've heard too many stories of being given "less than lifesaving" medical care in case of a terrible accident if you're a donor vs non-donor....stories of being unhooked from life support if comatose and with low survival chance for being an organ donor (IF ALIVE, I want EVERY friggin chance)....being artifically kept alive after actual clinical death (NOT something I want, it's against a lot of beliefs I have) in order to donate organs/be transported to donate....maybe it's all paranoia, but I can't get it out of my head. Maybe I'm selfish, maybe it's a legitimate concern. I was a donor for years until I started hearing people's stories that really bothered me. But then again I've also had a lot of people telling me how terrible it is not to be one. Eh. :( I try in other ways. I give blood, at least, when I can (even writing that makes me think 'poor excuse' to myself) :(

 Oh no!  Don't say that!  You have ruined my resolve.... but hang on, wouldn't loved ones have a say in whether a life support machine was turned off?  Or kept on?  OK, scary... **goes off to think...**

Yeah, they would of course, but if it was something like "I don't want to be kept alive if there is no chance of me surviving"...some doctors might be (either consciously or unconsciously) a little more convincing to loved ones about the "severity" of the condition if someone is an organ donor. "Eg, she won't survive, realistically" vs "She does have a 5% chance of living..." 

I know most of the stories are probably hooey...but I have such a fear of death that it bothers me. It's probably a matter of being EXTREMELY specific with your loved ones about exactly what you want, but then again, who can say extremely specifically how much of a chance of living someone has? Like "If I have less than a 5% chance of living, turn me off and donate my organs" - how can a doctor decide that? Or in a "numberless" case "If I have a negligible chance of living, unhook me" again, who is to decide what is a negligible chance? How can the doctor be sure? Crazy things happen all the time.

I am and would be honored to know some one , some where will benefit in anyway.  Shoot Once I am gone I want things simple, no service, no box.... just cremate me and find an okay plce to toss the ashes... I use to swear I wanted them distributed all over the sand traps on the local golf courses, ( that way I know my husband would visit from time to time !!)   Nah if I have parts any one can use................ go for it !!

Bonita of Bwana

mdvetter81

              organ donor ....... since 1973

 

 

     

Ditto

I have not signed up either. Each time I get my DL  renewed and they ask....I try sooo hard to say "yes" and it always comes out "no!" 

I give all of you guys so much credit.......

A long time ago I read the book COMA...but Robin Cook I believe....there was a movie on it also.   But the book scared the devil out of me..... and I never forgot it and think of it always when its DL time.

I guess this ties into whtsthfrequencys thought.

whtsthfrequency

Jeez....I feel like a really terrible person, but I'm not a donor. I've heard too many stories of being given "less than lifesaving" medical care in case of a terrible accident if you're a donor vs non-donor....stories of being unhooked from life support if comatose and with low survival chance for being an organ donor (IF ALIVE, I want EVERY friggin chance)....being artifically kept alive after actual clinical death (NOT something I want, it's against a lot of beliefs I have) in order to donate organs/be transported to donate....maybe it's all paranoia, but I can't get it out of my head. Maybe I'm selfish, maybe it's a legitimate concern. I was a donor for years until I started hearing people's stories that really bothered me. But then again I've also had a lot of people telling me how terrible it is not to be one. Eh. :( I try in other ways. I give blood, at least, when I can (even writing that makes me think 'poor excuse' to myself) :(

That's what living wills are for, so the decision to disconnet or not is yours.  Then organ donation will only occur after your wishes are carried out and you don't have to worry about someone else deciding to let you go just for your organs.

Glenda--Don't feel bad.  I sort of feel the same way even though I say "yes".  I'm thinking, "I'm making snap life decisions while at the DMV???"   

 I just wanted to share something with you guys too.  Even if you don't specifically have anything saying you want to be an organ donor if something were to happen and you were in a coma or something like that where you had little chance for recovery, your family would probably be approached about it while you were in the hospital. 

My friend recently lost her daughter and in the midst of them trying to decide if they should take her off machines or not they were asked about organ donation. 

 That's what living wills are for, so the decision to disconnet or not is yours.  Then organ donation will only occur after your wishes are carried out and you don't have to worry about someone else deciding to let you go just for your organs.

 That's the issue I addressed in my second post....even things like that are never 100% easy to interpret or carry out, and can be manipulated

I've been an organ donor since around....2002 maybe? My family knows that I'm glad to part with anything EXCEPT my eyes. I've just got this horrible eye phobia (going to the optomistrist is a nightmare!) & even though I know I'll be long gone, I can't bare the thought of....*shudder, gag* 

 I don't know if it's different in other areas, but here, doctors are VERY hesitant not to do everything possible to keep a person alive. My husband pilots for an air ambulance company. They've transported a patient who had attempted suicide after writing in permanent marker on his forhead "DNR" (Do Not Resesitate) with a copy of his DNR form laying close by. Obviously the EMS and ER didn't follow his directions. I've heard here that it's harder to get a doc to let the family pull the plug because he's thinking of all that lovely insurance money that will keep coming in as long as the patient is still requiring services...

scrubsfiend

On a side note, when the Tari Schavo case happened, mom and I were discussing what we wanted in the event we are declared brain dead or need life support.  She sent me an email saying if I didn't pull the plug for her, she'd haunt me forever.  Point taken momma, thanks.  I printed the email and keep it with my 'important' papers.

I know this is a total different discussion.....but this case is also one to concern me...but in the opposite way.   At that time I was listening to the Glen Beck radio show ( when I used to do computerized embroidery we had the radio on all the time LOUD...and since some of like the really hard rock music...and some of us liked country......we switched to TALK radio ) and I became very interested in this case and dug out as much as I could...reading interview from people from her family... nurses and some of the "inside" stuff the Glen Beck  ( he became an advocate for her and his whole couple hour show was almost all about her and what horrible things were happening ) dug up.   It became very important to me to let her live......I am totally 100 % convinced that this girls life was taken when it should not have been.    Not sure what that has to do with organ donor...but if it does....then for sure I don't want to be.

dyan

scrubsfiend

On a side note, when the Tari Schavo case happened, mom and I were discussing what we wanted in the event we are declared brain dead or need life support.  She sent me an email saying if I didn't pull the plug for her, she'd haunt me forever.  Point taken momma, thanks.  I printed the email and keep it with my 'important' papers.

I know this is a total different discussion.....but this case is also one to concern me...but in the opposite way.   At that time I was listening to the Glen Beck radio show ( when I used to do computerized embroidery we had the radio on all the time LOUD...and since some of like the really hard rock music...and some of us liked country......we switched to TALK radio ) and I became very interested in this case and dug out as much as I could...reading interview from people from her family... nurses and some of the "inside" stuff the Glen Beck  ( he became an advocate for her and his whole couple hour show was almost all about her and what horrible things were happening ) dug up.   It became very important to me to let her live......I am totally 100 % convinced that this girls life was taken when it should not have been.    Not sure what that has to do with organ donor...but if it does....then for sure I don't want to be.

For me, I would not want to be in a vegetative state for 7 years.  I would never want to put that horrible burden on my family, their finances and quality of life.  Never mind if I were a thinking vegetable how horrible that life would be for me.  My living will is a do not resuscitate and my family knows it!  They are to never look back and move on with their lives.  It's best IMO for them to move on with their lives and not come visit and stare at me unconscious for seven years. But everyone is different and that is why it is so controversial.

whtsthfrequency

Jeez....I feel like a really terrible person, but I'm not a donor. I've heard too many stories of being given "less than lifesaving" medical care in case of a terrible accident if you're a donor vs non-donor....stories of being unhooked from life support if comatose and with low survival chance for being an organ donor (IF ALIVE, I want EVERY friggin chance)....being artifically kept alive after actual clinical death (NOT something I want, it's against a lot of beliefs I have) in order to donate organs/be transported to donate....maybe it's all paranoia, but I can't get it out of my head. Maybe I'm selfish, maybe it's a legitimate concern. I was a donor for years until I started hearing people's stories that really bothered me. But then again I've also had a lot of people telling me how terrible it is not to be one. Eh. :( I try in other ways. I give blood, at least, when I can (even writing that makes me think 'poor excuse' to myself) :(

I don't think anyone should do anything they're uncomfortable with. While not signing up in a formal way to be a donor, you could still make your wishes known to your family with the stipulation that they have verifiable proof that you're not going to survive or at least not in a less than vegetative state. No one needs to rely on any one Dr. for an opinion on anything. If there's a concern, ask for an unbiased qualified person to weigh in.

We all have different fears, and although dying is one of mine, staring at a ceiling and not being able to eat, communicate, move, etc. or even worse, being in pain, is more frightening to me.

For me, I would not want to be in a vegetative state for 7 years. I would never want to put that horrible burden on my family, their finances and quality of life. Never mind if I were a thinking vegetable how horrible that life would be for me.

 Oh gee...I certainly do agree to your thinking....but the whole case scared me in that not all of her family was in agreement to this...her poor parents fought until the end, wanted to take responsibility for her and did until they were stopped.  Her husband who was either already married or about it be.....which was in the center of controversy as to why this whole thing happend to her to begin with was the one pushed for it.  And while most ( if not all ) people would agree that this is not a way of life......there were interviews with medical people that didn't feel she was as bad off as others said.  There was even controversy about the hospital that her husband put her in. I don't remember a lot of it now.... but Glen Beck at the beginning was against her living....until somewhere along the line was convinced differently.....and that is the time I became interested in the case. But none of this really has to do with organs though I guess. Might be a good conversation at another time....probably was at that time when I think about it.