Posted on 09/04/2008 4:59:32 PM PDT by wagglebee
This is why people should carry a NON-Donor card.
I just want enough time to read the Library of Congress.
Thanks for possibly saving many lives, clee1.
I had info on this I posted yesterday. It got pulled. Maybe I posted it wrong, I don’t know, it was late.
I will look up the article again tomorrow. There is also grant funding being made for an organ harvesting ambulence. So if you are an organ donor, and you are in an accident, you better up the harvester doesn’t get to you first.
I’ll add more.
There are any number of conditions that disqualify organ donation, and some means should be used for individuals with those conditions to identify themselves, that “all body parts must be disposed - organs unsuitable for transplant”.
More and more, less ethical medical personnel are moving away from voluntary donation, and lobbying politically to make mandatory donation the law. Or just taking the organs they want anyway. However, even the most unethical will hesitate in reusing contaminated organs, as that will be investigated and prosecuted.
And the collapse of medical ethics is so bad, that people may intentionally be administered antigens for rabies, for example, to prevent organ theft when they are hospitalized. When the value of one of your internal organs is between $30-50k, it is easy for ethics to go right out the window. They may want your organs more than they want you alive.
Not a bad idea.
I will be taking your warning under advisement, and telling others as well...
While I will be eternally grateful for the kidney transplant my mother received when I was a teenager, the stories I’ve been reading lately make me wonder if everything possible was done for her donor (She was a young lady who was in a motorcycle accident on Christmas Eve back in 1988).
This warning needs to be spread far and wide, IMHO. There is nothing wrong with organ donation - it’s one of the most wonderful gifts that can be given, but as you said - it sounds like it’s better to leave it up to your family AFTER you’re gone.
Not true.
Living wills AKA “advanced directives” are given the utmost weight and/or respect. They will keep the MD’s from violating your expressed wishes UNTIL you become completely unable to maintain mental function. At that point, your family’s wishes then will take precedence. It is vital to be VERY specific in the measures/treatments you desire to have taken.
Despite what you see on TV, other than younger mostly healthy people that have respiratory and/or cardiac arrest due to accidental reasons, CPR (and other Advanced life support methods) have less than a 12% success rate: “sucess” being defined as leaving the hospital breathing. The longer BLS/ACLS protocols are followed on a case, the less likely a successful outcome will occur.
Be cognizant of all the facts when making your Living Will.
Nope, they never tell you of all the pitfalls of a “successful” transplantation.
The lifetime of anti-rejection drugs that weaken you immune system to the point where a common cold can kill you, not to mention all the other “quality of life” issues you are now discovering.
My point is mainly this: healthcare consumers need to be more knowledgeable about their options, and more specific in the treatments they desire. Our society puts Doctors up on a pedestal; likening them to near demi-god status.
Sorry, but I work with the men and women every day. While most are highly skilled and knowledgeable, a few are putzes, and all are all to fallible.
Welcome to today’s healthcare: statistic driven and customer service oriented. You want fries with that?
My duty, and my distinct pleasure.
Thank you.
Exactly right.
Most savvy people that wish to donate organs postmortem will specify what organs for what specific purposes and who will pay the expenses in their Living Will.
Those conditions MUST be met or the donation does not proceed.
BAD idea.
Rabies vaccinations are extremely painful, and there is a significant adverse reaction rate.
The only reason they are given at all is that rabies is a horrid way to die, and is nearly uniformly fatal if untreated.
Chances are good that there was very little that could have been done for your donor.
Motorcycle accident victims usually die, > 90% of the time, from head/neck trauma. There is often very little that can be done for them, and young, health accident victims often can save up to 10 other people by the donation of their organs.
That is why I scoff at helmet laws: they save the few lives of those that crash at lower speeds, but almost all high speed motorcycle accidents result in a fatality.
Still, it is best to let you loved ones decide on donation AFTER the fact.
Thank you, clee1. I know that was most likely the case, but with all the articles coming out on this it still makes one wonder occasionally. It’s good to be reminded...
The good news, as you mentioned — not only was my mother’s life saved by her donor, but at least 8 other people received an organ donation that Christmas from her donor. It was the BEST present our family, and the other families could’ve possibly received. And, as I said, I will be forever grateful to the family whose child was lost that night, as the daughter of one of this young lady’s organ recipients.
You also mentioned helmets... The scary thing about that is my neighbor’s son was KILLED by his helmet. It was a very low-speed accident just 3 blocks from our house & his home. He had one of those helmets with the mouthguard part in the front... Anyway, they say that when he hit the pavement the helmet decapitated the poor young man. Granted this was back in the early 80s so there have been many advances made with helmets, and his parents did sue the manufacturer of the helmet itself. On the other hand, we have a good friend that survived a brutal motorcycle accident with severe head trauma (he was in a medically induced coma for several weeks). If not for his helmet he most assuredly wouldn’t be alive today - that and because he was life-flighted to one of the best hospitals in the area. I personally believe it should be up to the riders themselves if they wish to wear one or not...
Thanks, I knew you would be up to date on this one.
I have said before many times that I have no objection to my organs being used to help others after I'm dead, BUT I need to really be dead and I simply don't trust the current system to recognize the difference between life and death.
There are laws against profiting off organs, against having an organ market.
The truth is though, that that is now just a masquerade. The donor family doesn’t get a dime, but the recovery, transport, administration, and medical pieces make HUGE amounts of money off organs. The call it “expense.”
Here, see this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2075213/posts
Philadelphia undertakers admit selling corpses
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