[x-pixie-lottie-x]

i am i signed up when i sent off for my driving license. Iv said they can have everything but my heart, but then i have a heart murmer anyway so not sure it would be all that wanted x

[MereBeing]

I signed up quite a while ago and registered my parents as well, so now they know that if anything happens to me, they must agree to the donation or I will haunt and terrorise them for life

I am not sure about automatically opting in everyone for organ donation at birth as it might cause anger within the population but in terms of saving more lives, it's a good idea. I would rather people say that they opt out of the organ donation due to personal beliefs, instead of not even thinking about the issue. Many people just ignore the whole organ donation registration thing or overlook it, which means less potential donors so the main emphasis should be on informing more people about organ donation.

[AdamHarriis]

I'm not an organ donor and I don't want to be. I'm not religious in the slightest just don't want to be one. I think it's a good clever idea that we can transplant organs and save lives etc...but personally I don't like the fact that once I die someone comes along, cuts me open and takes my organs out of me. I've had them all my life so I want to keep them

I'm all for giving blood though, I have no problem with that

[pietro93]

I keep a card inside my wallet which states that I'm willing to donate organs after death, but that only works in Italy I guess... what will I need to do once I arrive in the UK?

[Skyelight]

I am an organ donor and will be a blood and plasma donor in November (piercing last November so years gap in case of infection).

I am a Christian but the bible teaches us to share and to help each other, if organ donation isn't that I don't know what is.

I'm not sure on the opt in - opt out argument... both have their merits and both have their problems. I for one prefer that I have opted in rather than been assumed in, but then again it is assumed that we will all vote but in reality only a number of us actually want to/bother to. It's the same with all systems, people just get more touchy about this one because it affects them directly.

[odkfn]

I am. Every single organ. You should be an automatic donor unless your opt out, and if you opt out you should be uneligable for anybody elses organs. If you don't want to save others lives then why should others save you?

[odkfn]

(Original post by AdamHarriis)
I'm not an organ donor and I don't want to be. I'm not religious in the slightest just don't want to be one. I think it's a good clever idea that we can transplant organs and save lives etc...but personally I don't like the fact that once I die someone comes along, cuts me open and takes my organs out of me. I've had them all my life so I want to keep them

I'm all for giving blood though, I have no problem with that

So you'd rather they went into a box in the ground with you where they're eaten by maggots as opposed to saving someone elses life? How about when you die you also get burried with all your cash and possessions and house so that they can biodegrade and rot so no-one else can use those either? I mean you've had them most of your life too, might as well get burried with them.

[Picture~Perfect]

I am an organ donor and I have been for quite some time now, if my life can't be saved then I'm more than happy to give everything to help others. It's not like there any good to you once your dead.

[tory88]

I think that the state should probably register everyone over 18 automatically, and send a letter out letting them know how to change it. Making that the case from birth is wrong though, as young children shouldn't be able to make decisions like that. I personally am not an organ donor, because I don't agree with the process of everyone having an equal right to the organs - I would say someone who's worked hard for 20 years is more deserving than a convicted sex offender, but at the moment I don't think this is the case. Instead, I will be donating my body to medical science, I imagine to be used as a cadaver by medical students.

[AdamHarriis]

(Original post by odkfn)
So you'd rather they went into a box in the ground with you where they're eaten by maggots as opposed to saving someone elses life? How about when you die you also get burried with all your cash and possessions and house so that they can biodegrade and rot so no-one else can use those either? I mean you've had them most of your life too, might as well get burried with them.

Well no because I'd rather be cremated and I don't think you'd be able to bury a house with me, that'd have to be a pretty big grave.

I've heard that all before and it hasn't changed my mind on whether to donate my organs or not

[desdemonata]

I definitely want to be a donor, they can have absolutely everything. The waiting lists are too long and lives are lost because of it.

Watched a presentation last year about a marathon they were running in hopes to raise awareness for organ donations. In it was a 18 year old girl who desperately needed transplants. She was saying how terrified she was because she honestly didn't know if she would get them in time. At the end of the video it said how she had passed away a month after the video was filmed, and that she had been included at her parents request. Don't see how anybody watching that could refuse to be a donor, unless they had religious beliefs that said they couldn't.

[odkfn]

(Original post by AdamHarriis)
Well no because I'd rather be cremated and I don't think you'd be able to bury a house with me, that'd have to be a pretty big grave.

I've heard that all before and it hasn't changed my mind on whether to donate my organs or not

I'm not saying this with the hopes of changing your mind - just expressing my disgust at your appauling life choice. But yes - it is your choice. I am going to get cremated too but doctors can happily take anything/everything they want as after I've got into the furnace I'm going to be a pile of ash. Whether I'm a big pile of ash, or a slightly smaller pile of ash as I've given my kidneys to save somebody elses life it makes no difference to me as I'll be DEAD. Imagine one day you're on your death bed, needing a transplant and (somehow) you're top of the list and you've been told you've got a potential match and you're future wife and child are at your bedside and you're all elated and can't believe your luck..next thing you know you're told "sorry, you're going to die because the guy changed his mind and at the last minute decided instead of saving your life he'd rather just waste his kidneys and be burried with them, so even though theres a set up for grabs he'd effectively rather bin them than you having them".

Whatever, as I say, I hope you never need a transplant one day, and if you do, I also hope you don't get it as you shouldn't be allowed to reap rewards from a system that you're not assisting.

[Pastaferian]

(Original post by tory88)
I personally am not an organ donor, because I don't agree with the process of everyone having an equal right to the organs - I would say someone who's worked hard for 20 years is more deserving than a convicted sex offender, but at the moment I don't think this is the case. Instead, I will be donating my body to medical science, I imagine to be used as a cadaver by medical students.

As a prospective medical student, I thank you for that.

Out of interest, how did you go about registering your wishes, and is there a special card you can carry? I ask because donations to medical science are much rarer than the organ donor one, and there's a risk that no one will benefit from your good intentions if your wishes aren't registered somewhere.

Also, did you meet any resistance from family when you discussed it with them? I imagine that might be harder for them to accept than if you had elected to be an organ donor.

On the point of who gets an organ transplant, there is a massively higher likelihood that your organs would go to a patient who you would regard as deserving (sex offenders are a tiny % of the population). But you are right that the rules don't allow you to specify the recipient (which in the wider scheme of things is a good rule, IMO) - ultimately, the choice is made on medical grounds , i.e. which patient would get the most benefit.

[madders94]

I can't donate blood because of health, so the least I can do is be on the organ donor register. I've signed up for every organ and also to be a living kidney donor should the need arise (although mine aren't in great shape at the moment ); I'm also going to sign up for the Anthony Nolan register when I get the chance.

I hate the rule about family being able to overturn organ donation. I know mine never would because they're all organ donor card carriers anyway, but think how many people miss out on life-saving organs because of it I also hate people saying they'll only donate if they get paid for it/can pick who it goes to... it's incredibly selfish!

[tory88]

(Original post by Pastaferian)
As a prospective medical student, I thank you for that.

Out of interest, how did you go about registering your wishes, and is there a special card you can carry? I ask because donations to medical science are much rarer than the organ donor one, and there's a risk that no one will benefit from your good intentions if your wishes aren't registered somewhere.

Also, did you meet any resistance from family when you discussed it with them? I imagine that might be harder for them to accept than if you had elected to be an organ donor.

On the point of who gets an organ transplant, there is a massively higher likelihood that your organs would go to a patient who you would regard as deserving (sex offenders are a tiny % of the population). But you are right that the rules don't allow you to specify the recipient (which in the wider scheme of things is a good rule, IMO) - ultimately, the choice is made on medical grounds , i.e. which patient would get the most benefit.

I always just assumed that if I made it clear to anyone likely to be involved in plans after my death I wanted to be donated to medical science then it would be. But your question got me wondering and I did a google search - it turns out you have to contact your local medical school to get a consent form and then keep a copy with your will. Which seems a bit fiddly to me, but I will be requesting one.

My family don't mind at all. I have a fairly small family, and of those I get on with they're all atheist, so I didn't feel any resistance from them. I can see how it would be hard for a lot of people, but neither my father nor me are very sentimental so I seem to have dodged that bullet. I understand the small probability, but I refuse to support a system whose premise I disagree with - namely that everyone is deserving of an organ equally. I agree that on the grounds of race, gender etc. it's wrong, but not on the basis of whether the patient is a decent person.

[RobML]

(Original post by L i b)
No. I think it's utterly obscene for the state to presume ownership of a person's corpse.

Can I just reword my first reply to this-

Even if this policy was objectively proven to save 1000s of lives and have no considerable negative side affects (very likely this is the case) you'd still go against it just because it doesn't strictly adhere to your political ideologies?
Talk about being a slave to ideals... it's exactly people like you that's the reason politics is so messed up. Ideologies are only meant as a guide to making political decisions, they shouldn't completely take over using logic and common sense and be blindly followed
Still, the state wouldn't exactly presume full ownership of people's corpses as that'd imply they could do whatever they like to them when in reality they'd only have the rights to use them for vital organ donation (the policy we're talking about is people being organ donors by default, nothing further than that)
We have this thing in the UK called 'democracy' that would dissuade the state from breaking the terms of the policy anyway
And it's not like you wouldn't have a choice whether to be an organ donor or not as you'd be very easily able to opt out, so don't moan about rights or liberties

[Pitt1988]

I'm down for organ donation, for all of my organs, on my driving license. Unsure whether or not that means it is solely in the event of death in a car accident, or whether is covers any other means of death as well.

I think everyone should be put on it automatically and you should have to opt out.

[iwishtheskywaspink]

I want to be. But my mum won't let me fill out a form because she thinks that'll jinx me and God will kill me to let others live off my organs O_o
I said, "mum, I'm pretty sure God is against organ donation", She said, "no"
*sigh* first chance I get- I'll fill out that form!

[Em8980]

Yes I am an organ and blood donor, and I am for an 'opt out' system for the list. But maybe not from birth.. maybe from 18 years old, you are automatically put on the register and then you can take yourself off it if you want, because your next of kin will make the decision anyway before you are 18.

[Vohamanah]

(Original post by Pitt1988)
I'm down for organ donation, for all of my organs, on my driving license. Unsure whether or not that means it is solely in the event of death in a car accident, or whether is covers any other means of death as well.

I think everyone should be put on it automatically and you should have to opt out.

It covers any means of death, so long as your organs are healthy enough to be donated (i.e. you haven't died from rabies or some kind of disease that has damaged them to the point that you die).

It is worth noting, however, that even if are on the Organ Donation Register, which is a wonderfully selfless thing in itself, in the event that you are in hospital and incapacitated or unable to communicate, they are unlikely to have time after your death to check the register and your records while the organs are still suitable for transplant (because they have to be used very quickly after death).

So even if you are on the organ donor register and even if you have a card, its really important to let your family know that you want to donate your organs, so they can pass the message on while you are unable to. That massively increases the chance that in the event of your death, your organs will be put to good use