Much better Monty Python reference from The Meaning of Life
Posted on 12/04/2010 9:44:18 AM PST by traumer
It might sound a little disturbing to some people but a new pilot program will attempt to recover kidneys from people who die at home in Manhattan.
A team of organ specialists will have about 20-minutes after a cardiac-arrest patient is declared dead to arrive at the home, check a donor registry, determine medical eligibility, obtain a family member's consent and get the person into a specialized ambulance.
A special team will monitor 9-1-1 calls about people in danger of dying and they will travel directly to a person's home without being summoned.
The program is being launched Wednesday. It could eventually lead to thousands more organs donated each year. But the five-month trial, a collaboration between Bellevue Hospital and New York City's police and fire departments, could be declared a success without a single organ being recovered, organizers say.
It's being called the Organ Donation Unit. It is being funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U. S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA),
The team — composed of two EMTs, an organ donor family services specialist and a Bellevue emergency physician — will interact with grieving and shocked family members in the limited time available before it is too late to use a person's organs. A police detective will arrive at the scene before the team to make sure there's nothing about the death that warrants a criminal investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxny.com ...
The donor card signer protested that it was for when he was dead. "Well no one has ever lived when we finish" said the men there to take his liver.
That could be the next step . . . .
This is the first step. Next, they will add the “Asset Recovery Team”. They will pull any gold fillings, remove any jewelry/wallets etc... for the good of the people. Shoes can be piled up in the corner of the ambulance. (sorry FR’s, I know this is macabre but this thing has completely freaked me out)/
If people gave the gift of life (organ donor) house calls wouldn’t be needed.I can’t understand why people want to keep body parts when they get put in the hole to become worm food,give it up you can’t use it.
I agree.
Government offices will soon have signs that say “Unemployment and Welfare Make You Free”
“If people gave the gift of life house calls wouldn’t be needed..”
Are you SERIOUS? If you want to donate your organs, that is YOUR choice. You can’t see that this is over reaching and could be abused? Geez. I can’t believe that anyone would not see a problem with this issue. Will SIDS babies be used as well? How about the skin? Can that be sheared off because a burn patient somewhere may need it? At what point, do we become butchered cows hanging from chains. I was born with my organs and if I want to rot with them that is my choice.
Much better Monty Python reference from The Meaning of Life
Richard Brodsky wants to make New York’s system an “opt out” rather than “opt in” system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68lvZE8PU1k
From Wikipedia:
Opt-in vs. opt-out
There are two main systems for voluntary systems “opt in” (anyone who has not given consent is not a donor) and “opt out” (anyone who has not refused is a donor). In some systems, family members may be required to give consent or refusal, or may veto a potential recovery even if the donor has consented.
Because of various factors contributing to the rate of transplantations in a country, including the rate of living donors, hospital connectivity, and demand, there is no direct correlation between the legislative system and the rate of donation. While some countries with an opt-out system like Spain (34 donors per million inhabitants) or Austria (21 donors per million inhabitants) have high donor rates and some countries like Germany (16 donors) or Greece (6 donors) with opt-in systems have lower rates, Sweden, which has an opt-out system has a low rate as well (15 donors) figures.[1] Dr Rafael Matesanz, President of the Spanish National Transplant Organisation, has acknowledged Spain’s legislative approach is likely not the primary reason for the country’s success in increasing the donor rates, starting in the 1990s.[2]
[edit]
United States
Under United States law, the regulation of organ donation is left to states within the limitations of the federal National Organ Transplant Act of 1984. Each state’s Uniform Anatomical Gift Act seeks to streamline the process and standardize the rules among the various states. Many states have sought to encourage the donations to be made by allowing the consent to be noted on the driver’s license. Donor registries allow for a central information center for an individual’s wish to be a donor. Still, it remains a pure consent system rather than an extended consent system or even a dissent opt-out system.
[edit]
Europe
The EU does not regulate organ donation uniformly; the decision is left to member states. According to a 2010 New York Times article, a total of 24 European countries have some form of presumed consent (opt-out) system, with the most prominent and “hardest” opt-out systems in Spain, Austria, and Belgium yielding high donor rates.[3] In 2008, the EU parliament overwhelmingly voted for an initiative to introduce an EU organ donor card in order to foster organ donation in Europe. In the United Kingdom organ donation is voluntary and no consent is presumed. Individuals who wish to donate their organs after death can use the Organ Donation Register, a national database.[4] The UK has recently discussed whether to switch to an opt-out system in light of the success in other countries and a severe British organ donor shortfall [5]
[edit]
I do believe you are right. You have the cop to turn a legitimate emotional outburst into a “crime” and a psychologist to pronounce that legitimate emotional outburst as “crazy”. But let us carve out your beloved’s kidneys on the living room table and we’ll overlook it. Oh, and by the way, we shot your dog on the way in because he growled at one of us. And what is that we see on that shelf over there...hmm, do you have a permit for that?
My father collapsed and could not be revived at his home in April, 2008. He was kept alive by the EMT crew, who transported him not to a hospital but a local medical clinic, where he was kept on life support, purportedy until the family could get there.
We were set upon instead, wanting consent to harvest not just organs but skin and bone. They were more relentless than the worst telemarketer, badgering really. He was an organ donor, but that was not enough for these, yes, ghouls. My mother consented to get them to go away, we were still in shock and tears and she wanted them to leave us be.
I was later quietly told by the funeral director that they really dislike working with the aftermath of this. There's often little left beyond hands and a head. How close to grave robbery are we willing to go, here?
I do not like this, not at all. It's morally suspect no matter how much benefit might be derived. The "gift of life" sounds very nice and it's not something that most would want to deny, but I've lived through the reality of it, and it's very dark.
There is a profit motive, and quite a large one from the near agitation of the sales pitch we received.
I was born with my organs and if I want to rot with them that is my choice.
It’s nice to see you don’t think of only your self. You missed the point the more people domate HOUSE CALLS would not have happened.
Did you know just your liver could save four people?,the list is long of how many lives can be saved by just one dead person.
Organ donation opt-out is government reaction to the idea that a citizen has to be part of the problem or part of the solution against your will.
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m very sorry that you and your Mother had to go through that.
Were you out-scooped here?
:-)
Don't be silly. The FDA has made FD&C Green No. 666 illegal.
Just as long as the flopping process is done with "dignity."
I couldn’t understand it until I recalled that he had a rare blood type.
“It’s nice to see you don’t think of only your self”.
Actually, I prefer to think about individual liberty than some self imposed, holier than thou ideal that donating organs is the only way to help people. I’m all for allowing people to donate anything they want but this “test” is beyond the scope. Donating your body to science can help medical students (have you signed up for that?) and donating your body to a criminal research lab can help law enforcement/criminologists (have you signed up for that?). Hopefully when you pass, you’re organs can be used to help someone... other than the person who is a celebrity drug addict or sports figure you can move their way to the top of the list. Or, possibly someone from a different country who has the money to “order” a specific organ. Helping someone should be a choice and not a situation where a family has to sign some form within 20 minutes so an organ can be yanked from their body.
I suppose a profit motive shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I never thought that this would ever happen in our country.
We had one once on the second floor who had to go to the hospital, about 600 lbs. Had to take the window out of th second floor put the Aerial ladder through the window wrap her in the stokes wrap her in a a salvage cover and tie her to the end of the ladder.
Too big for the stokes but got the handles around far enough to tie to them.
When she got to the hospital she told them she needed a bedpan, they stuck one under her and took a chance it was in the right place, impossible to actally see as if anyone wanted to.
People do not understand that any job in a city that no one else wants to do , It is the Fire department that gets called.Water leaks, Sewer leaks, Gas leaks, Short circuits, Tree’s down, flooding,auto accidents, extraditions,elevators stuck, people trapped on top of Swedish cranes, window washers who can’t tie a proper knot in the ropes of their platform, people crushed under the Metro, People lost in the woods. Body recovery,suicides ,shootings ,stabbings,drug overdose,
Cats in trees,river rescue,boats sinking,Fire watch’s, Haz mat incidents, strange powders in the mail,decontamination.
You name it. Christmas and New Years at the firehouse, up all night with medical locals and fires while they sleep in their beds. out in 18 degree weather with snow azz deep to a tall Indian, put the chains on , take ‘em off, repair ‘em.
Shovel out the Fire plugs, jump up from your meal and go, eat it cold when you get back,One minute in bed, next minute going all out to save a naked guy hanging from the third floor. Knees wasted from sliding poles, No hearing in the left ear because of the ear horn and siren (Now they issue hearing safety devices.Didnt get those in my day.)
Arthritis in my back because of falling down a flight of stairs at a fire.
Dealing with some of the worst human scum on the planet, and in turn ,some of the nicest people on earth.You see them all as Firefighter.
Being lucky enough to live 20 years in retirement ( straight retirement, not medical) while going to funerals for my firends and being told I didnt earn every dime of my pension.
I wouldnt have changed my career for anything, The job offered retirement benefits and I took them, and I dont turn my back in shame when I cash my check, I earned every penny of it.
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