[Mulder]

Somewhere out there (probably in some dark alley in a third-world country), the Peepster is smiling diabolically....

[cynicom]

Mulder...

I have no comment.

[Ole Okie]

My word. Won't that hurt?

[07055]

Organ donation is fine unless some "charity" is selling your body for cosmetic surgery purposes.

Remember the "Sixty Minutes" story about how people donated the tissue from their loved ones---only to find out it had been sold for penile enlargement surgery. At a significant profit to the "insiders" of the "organ donation" charities.

[jimkress]

Next step: Organs can be immediately removed from miscreants who stop paying taxes.

How obscene is this?! I can just see the rush to rip out body parts as soon as they think the heart has stopped.

Any of these ghouls ever heard of resuscitation? Paddles? Give me 300 and clear?!

[Endeavor]

" In the mid-1990s, for example, reports that hospitals were injecting vegetative patients with drugs that would preserve organs but hasten death surfaced in media outlets nationwide. In response, the Department of Health and Human Services asked the Institutes of Medicine to look into the issue and produce guidelines. Those guidelines came out in mid-1999."

Huh? Doesn't this constitute attempted murder?

And who defines an "irreversible" brain injury? Does this mean that they won't rescuscitate patients who flatline? And what's the bit about not using ER or OR "donors?"

This is one wacky article.

[ValerieUSA]

New Age Cannibalism

[11th Earl of Mar]

My wife's brother died a few months ago from a closed head injury.

His brain swelled to the point of causing permanent damage and finally death.

It was early in the morning, 24 hours after the accident, that one eye dialated, then the other. What happened was that his brain had swelled so much that it was pushing down towards the neck and into the brain cell, causing irreperable harm.

Early that morning before we knew what was going to happen, the doctor set asked us to meet someone from the organ donor organization.

After a short presentation, the family talked about it and the parents decided that they would donate. My brother in law was young, heathy and blood type O-positive [the most universal type].

The next morning when the real doctor came in he told us that our loved one died the night before, and was being kept "alive" by the resperator and heart monitor.

When the family realized that he was really dead, the organ retrieval process went forward very fast.

By the next day, a very sick man had one kidney. A single mother with young children got his lungs. A 44 year old man who was given one week to live, got a new heart.

The most remarkable transplant involved a friend of mine who was scheduled to donate HIS OWN kidney to his ailing nephew. He was to give up his kidney on Monday morning, and to take the next eight weeks to recuperate.

His nephew was an exact match and received the kidney without his uncle having to go through a very painful surgery.

We are from Michigan. I am not sure what the exact laws are here in the state. But we were able to easily donate organs, even without a living will.

Organ donation can be a very difficult decision. And there is no good time to broach the subject.

But the moral of this story is to talk about it and let your wishes be known to your loved ones.

[He Rides A White Horse]

This is a disaster in the making.

[He Rides A White Horse]

"We don't want there to be a conflict of interest with patient care," said Mandell of University Hospital.

...but there will be.

[BenLurkin]

"Oh, brave new world. . ."

[EdJay]

I'm confused. What is the issue?

They're talking about taking organs from people "whose hearts have stopped." Does anybody think that when your heart has stopped, you're actually alive?

[templar]

Wonder how long it has to have been stopped?

[mcsparkie]

My organs are for sale. No exceptions.

[backhoe]

Dear God Almighty! This story is so creepy and ghoulish I don't know where to start.
Years ago I wrote a short story, "Neomort," about brain dead patients who were kept alive for organ harvesting...

...unfortunately, not all of them were quite brain-dead. That being the crux of the plot.

[sharktrager]

What I want is the right to sell my kidney and or part of my liver.

The way I see it, it's my body, and I should have the right to do with it as I wish. That's what they keep telling us, isn't it?

[vikingchick]

Shoot, why wait until the heart stops beating? Just hover by the bedside until they fall asleep, then pounce.