Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
Opt in or out the new thinking
Good or bad ?
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
On the face of it the 'new thinking', (the opt-out system), has a great deal going for it and may well represent a great leap forward.
I presume that in a life support switch off scenario the attending relatives would be consulted whether or not the individual had opted-in or opted-out of organ donation.* [I have been faced with the formality of signing a 'release/permission' for a dangerous procedure to be performed on an adult loved-one, "we don't need to ask you...we could go and just do it" I'm still not entirely sure why they did this, but everything worked out in the end.]
Although I have no personal experience of a sudden death as a result of an accident, at work or on the road, coming to the situation some time after the event, it might be some comfort that some good had come of it. Certainly coming too late for the donation option one might feel the waste of a stranger's chance of a new lease of life added to one's own loss. There is also the other side of the coin; you, or someone you know, may be the one that is waiting.
While there always has been an element of trust, even with our NHS, now that the profit motive is flooding into health provision, the water is muddying-up. Would the grieving relatives be faced with the dilemma of cashing-in themselves** and the dread that money is influencing the call that useful life is all but extinct? Speaking for myself, I am very much a, "Where there is life there is hope!" kind of guy.
*Do we wish to thrash out the nature of this assumed contract or is this taken care of with the necessary 'talking it over' within the family?
**I don't quite mean that the relatives will take part in a Dutch Auction:switch-off now for £X, switch-off tomorrow for £x, just underlining the trust issue.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 661- Registered: 16 Mar 2008
- Posts: 241
I would be cross if my husband/daughters sold my organs, give them away is fine,I would come back and haunt them if they didn't, after all you do not need them once you are dead, might as well let some one else use them to stay alive,so i think that opt out is a good idea. but to me it seems like a normal thing to do, just as a lot of people pass on books and clothing to charity shops when not needed anymore, why not organs.
A dog is just not for christmas save some for boxing day
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Opting out should be the order of the day - every day. The problem is that even now, if a person has expressed a wish to donate their organs, eyes, skin or whatever, their relatives can still overturn that decision, which I think is very wrong.
Jean has kidney failure and had a transplant in December 2003, which failed due to "hospital acquired infections" at Guys hospital. It really was the dirtiest hospital we had ever seen.
She was on the transplant list until last year (7 years) when they took her off because she was (is) too weak for an operation.
Naturally I am dead against the status quo and would encourage anyone and everyone to donate their organs after their death and no interference from relatives.
You can of course donate kidneys before you die, even to strangers.
There surely, can be no greater gift, than the gift of life and being an organ donor, does just that.
Another thought on kidney failure is that they have not failed through lifesyle (too much drinking or too much smoking) just bad luck.
Roger
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
I am all for the opt out system. Relatives should never have the right to overturn a donor's wishes, my family know I want my organs used and I have threatened to haunt them if they were to refuse.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
For relatives to be refused any standing is a sure sign that either there is unquestioning trust in the medical process or that each person would be deemed to have made a conscious choice in not opting out.
To cover the latter point, should these things be discussed in school:only the once or at intervals? The first point strikes at the heart of 'hope' over medical opinion, and this may lead to the family losing the loved-one at the very point when the accident occurred. When the phone call comes the family will only be being invited to be mere spectators. And will there be an age limit, would your child who is still at school still only be an actor in a medical drama and the parents and siblings lookers-on?
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
We have both carried donor cards for many years. Our sons have been aware of this and have had no objection to any useful bits being passed on.
However, now that we are both approaching 70, me almost, my wife not far behind, we are now taking a different course.
Given that we are both probably not containing any useful recyclable parts we are going to end up here:-
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/biohealth/study/departments/anatomy/lao/donation/index.aspx
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
A friend of mine left her body for anatomy study by students, this is something more people should consider.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
that has always been there kath, when i was a kid the term was "leave your body to science", when organ transplants came into being this was largely side-lined.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
I had considered that option but they do not want mine as I am much to fat, I would have thought they students should learn on/about all body shapes and sizes.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
When you die - whatever you believe about an afterlife, your body is no more and logic/common-sense says it is a waste just to have it buried or cremated without first offering it for donation (or medical science) it so that other people may benefit.
Roger
Terry Nunn- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
If you want to donate organs and haven't done anything about it yet, please register.
Here's your starting point
http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/how_to_become_a_donor/
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Well done Terry.
Roger
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
"In response to Tom Voûte's letter about Plasma Resources UK (24 April), I would like to offer reassurance about the future of blood and organ donation. NHS Blood and Transplant is not being privatised and was not part of the recent changes in health legislation. Our services were reviewed in 2011 and ministers endorsed our unique and valuable role in saving lives through blood and organ donation. Making any financial transaction in exchange for an organ is illegal. Any suggestion of selling or buying organs would completely undermine public trust, and lead to fewer organs being donated and more people dying unnecessarily waiting for a transplant. The blood that we supply is on a not-for-profit basis and the prices that we charge to hospitals are based on covering the cost of collection, testing, processing and delivery. Plasma Resources is owned by the government and is a separate business. We do not supply blood or blood components to PRUK.
Lynda Hamlyn
Chief executive, NHS Blood and Transplant"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/30/no-nhs-transplant-blood-donationIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
