Who here ISN'T an organ donor?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Why?

Online organ donor registration: http://donatelife.net/

[hlthe2b]

1. Once they made it a simple matter of saying "yes" when you renewed your driver's license...

I, for the life of me, can't understand why anyone is not.

Human nature, being what it is, I can understand those who don't actively take the steps to do so, but now that it is very close to a passive consent system, requiring very little effort by the individual, it does absolutely baffle me.


Some here may be familiar with the NIH "Visible Human Project" that renders incredible high definition MRI, CT and anatomical images of a human that has been used by researchers since its release in 1994. It is really a phenomenal project that is so detailed, the subject is often referred to as "Glassman"... What you may not know is that the subject was a death row inmate that willed his body to science post execution.

So, a death row inmate can summon the selflessness to donate their remains but so many others can not? Explain that one to me....

[The2ndWheel]

18. If it requires little effort, might as well not question it

Is that how we want society to develop?

I don't think the state should own your organs by default. If you want to donate your organs, go for it. If not, isn't that a personal choice? Selflessness, selfishness, it's your choice. I thought we're not supposed to guilt people into a decision? Great thing the inmate did. His body, his choice, right?

If the decision is increasingly made for you, to make the effort to make the choice yourself, whatever your choice, doesn't sound too bad to me.

[hlthe2b]

19. How insulting that you would take THAT from my statement...

Unbelievably so, but clearly not worth the effort to discuss with someone that would mischaracterize in such a deceptive manner.

[Posteritatis]

37. Yes, let's just deliberately obfuscate things that keep people from dying. Oy. (nt)

[EastKYLiberal]

2. Honestly?

I can't bear the fact that my death will keep someone else alive.

Selfish asshole reason, I know...

[Buzz Clik]

4. Eh? That seems to defy logic.

Can you elaborate?

[OldDem2012]

12. Right. We wouldn't want to help anyone else live longer, would we?....

...Come on....what the hell are you going to do with your organs after you've passed away?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. the reasoning isn't selfish or mean, it's just kinda dumb. nt

[nobodyspecial]

24. Certainly not very liberal of you

Perhaps you should change your user name.

[Robb]

3. I got a piano I can let go cheap.

(rimshot)

[undeterred]

5. Looking for someone to scold on a Sunday morning...

[Kolesar]

6. The card says: "in the event of death"

(it's a Monty Python joke)

[FSogol]

9. My liver? But I'm using it.

[tblue]

60. "I'm not dead yet!"

Love Monty Python!

[TM99]

7. I am not and neither is my partner

We are both signed up for cryonics.

[Travis_0004]

8. I'm going to get flack for this, but I think people who agree to donate organs should be higher. . .

People who are registered as organ donors should be higher on the list to receive donated organs. I think that somebody who is willing to donate organs themselves should receive an organ transplant before somebody who is not willing to donate.

[robinlynne]

51. good idea.

[REP]

89. Except people who need organs make poor donors

Organ failure effects more than just the failing organ. For example, I have have severe kidney disease and though I'm only in early-stage failure, already my liver, heart, adrenals, parathyroid, bones, blood and probably something else are being damaged by the disease process.

Anyone can have what they want when I'm dead - but even if I died right now, there's not a lot that's any good.

[Demonaut]

10. I do financing for car loans, high end, and most clients are organ donors

I can't remember the last ID I received that they were not

come to think of it, I think the only ones that do not are usually people not native to this country, maybe a cultural thing?

[Upton]

11. I'm not..

the system is unfair, favoring the rich and well connected..I've chosen not to participate.

[eShirl]

15. Wouldn't a greater organ supply help even the playing field?

My husband was fortunate enough to receive a donated kidney despite being on Social Security Disability, Medicare and Medicaid and having an income well below the poverty line. A great many organ donations go to people like him and are much appreciated.

[Nevernose]

20. Medicare paid for my morher's kidney transplant

She's a retired school teacher.

[whistler162]

13. Can't donate what I don't have....

we have a couple of electric keyboards around.

yes I am a organ donor.

[1-Old-Man]

14. No, not any more. And you ask why? Well, the cancer matasticized.

It would be a rare person who would now want any of my organs. The cancer that was surgically removed from me a year and a half ago has come back, but now in my lungs, liver, and possibly in the lymph nodes in my neck. I don't think there is anyone out there who will be wanting any of my parts after my end comes.

[csziggy]

30. So sorry to hear that

[handmade34]

56. idea...

I have donated my entire body for research (many universities accept bodies... my body is either going to University of Vermont or Michigan State University, depending on where I am at the time)

Many universities need even damaged bodies to research specific concerns

hugs to you

[Auntie Bush]

102. I'm so sorry to hear that 1OM.

Bless you and take care and keep us informed of your condition. We'd all like to help you get through this and offer our strength and love to a fellow DUer.

[slackmaster]

16. My mom once donated a large and very valuable organ

She got tired of playing it and donated it to a church.

[PeaceNikki]

21. Also, who isn't on the bone marrow registry?

And if not, why not?

http://marrow.org/Home.aspx

[PeaceNikki]

22. And, who (of those eligible) isn't a regular blood donor?

http://www.redcrossblood.org/

[avebury]

25. I am not longer a blood or plasma donor.

I tried twice to donate plasma and got sick as a dog both times. The second time they actually had to stop it in the middle of the donation and hook up an IV bag. I would rather be shot then go through that experience again.

[PeaceNikki]

26. I totally understand. Not everyone who is eligible is able. Which is why those of us who can need to

I coordinate drives and completely get it.

I didn't mean to 'judge' by asking and apologize if it came off that way. Thank you for trying!

[GoCubsGo]

49. I'm not.

Because donating regularly for 20 years has made it very difficult to get a needle through all the scar tissue formed on the few parts of my veins that they can find without having to dig around for them for twenty minutes. All that to get maybe a half a pint of blood, because they could only find a small vein, and the flow was so slow, the blood clotted in the needle. I got tired of it after a while, and I got tired of not being able to lift anything for two days without making the huge bruise on my arm any bigger and more painful. Sorry. Just can't put myself through that any more.

[Skittles]

118. 45 gallon blood/platelet donor here

yes INDEED; I call it my way of giving back to the community without actually doing anything (I lay there watching a movie LOL)

[SeattleVet]

127. I can no longer donate blood.

I am on the 'banned for life' list because when I was in the Air Force I was stationed in Germany from 1978-1981.

Until they made the change I used to donate regularly; several gallons.

(Not sure if this affects my status as an organ donor, though - I never thought about that. I may have to check to see if I am also barred from organ donation. I currently am listed as a donor.)

[Duer 157099]

23. After reading "The Undead" I'm still a donor, but...

I'm hoping like hell that I'm actually and truly dead before they take anything.

[riverbendviewgal]

27. I carry my card

and my driver license says and I have another card on my bedroom bureau. My son knows I am one, my boyfriend and my friends and m doctor.

I figure I w won't be needing them after my last breathe.


My son contributed his eyes but we don't know if they were taken due to all the rad and chemo for being treated for brain tumor. but his neurosurgeon , who is one of the top ones in canada said his brain was given and divided to several institutions all over the world to study his tumor, Glio Blastma Multiforme. The worst one there is and the same one as Ted Kennedy's.


My son was 6', built like a lean hockey player, blond and blue eyed and healthy as a horse until he had seizures at work. 3 days later he was getting brain surgery. 18 months later he died. he was 26 and half years old.

THe healthy young people think nothing could ever happen to them. But it does happen, sadly. That is why I keep hoping you all get one payer health care some day.

[FedUpWithIt All]

31. I am so sorry for your loss.

And i applaud your son's donation and courage. I wish you peace.

[riverbendviewgal]

33. thank you

He was brave and so was his dad. peace to you too.

[csziggy]

32. Condolences to you and your family

For the loss of your son.

My sister died of the same type of brain tumor in 1993. She lasted 14 months after diagnosis, mostly because her doctoral thesis subject had put her in contact with many neurosurgeons. At the time, most patients lasted less than 4 months after being diagnosed. She allowed the surgeons she knew to do experimental procedures which gave her many more months of functional life. They also took her brain for study. The irony was that her doctoral thesis on the study of the brain provided techniques that allowed more detail study of the pathology of her brain.

I like to think that her willingness to give her body and brain over to medical study helped people like your son and Teddy Kennedy to have more time.

[riverbendviewgal]

34. I would like to think that too

I am so sorry for the loss of your sister. She was amazing to do her doctoral thesis on her own brain tumor.

[csziggy]

40. She had completed her thesis well before she was diagnosed.

It was on ways to study sections of the brain - pre-CATscan and other technologies, they took actual sections to look at under microscopes. Her thesis was on new ways to use dyes and alternate light sources to better image what they could see.

She was a neuro-anatomist and taught at a medical school at the time she was diagnosed.

Sorry for the confusion.

[ismnotwasm]

57. I'm so sorry

[riverbendviewgal]

64. Thank you

[tblue]

61. I'm so sorry.

Bless your heart and your son's memory.

[riverbendviewgal]

63. I thank you

[FedUpWithIt All]

28. We both are.

We won't be needing them anymore. We also feel a life lived well is far more important than a life lived long.

My husband also donates plasma regularly. One of the things i am really grateful i was able to participate in was cord blood donation after the birth of my son, and it's something i plan to do again in a few months when i deliver again.

Also, i know this may not be seen by the person i would like it to but i would like to express my gratitude to the person who gifted me with the heart. It made my day!!! Thank you!!!

[IDemo]

29. I'm not

I'm verging on 50 years with Type 1 diabetes. I don't think anyone wants my organs.

[Cleita]

39. Sometimes elder donations help other elderly.

Old people often don't get transplants because organs will go to younger people. Usually it's because doctors don't want to incur the risk of such a drastic procedure on an old person. However, a healthy, but older organ can be transplanted in an old person if the doctors feel the risk is worth it. Also, if you don't mind being used as a cadaver for medical students to study, they can learn from the condition you died from. I'm seventy three and have a donor card on my driver's license.

[IDemo]

44. It's not so much the elder part,

as the cardiovascular damage and neuropathy. Even someone who has done very well such as myself will have less than healthy retinas, heart and kidneys after 50 years.

[Samjm]

111. Type 1 here too

I've had Type 1 Diabetes for 34 years now (diagnosed at age 4). I'm listed as an organ donar, but I fully recognize they might not be able to use much. They can take whatever they can/want. The rest can be given to science to further study the long term effects of the disease on a body.

[cherokeeprogressive]

35. I am, but have absolutely NO problem with anyone who isn't.

It's an entirely personal thing and nobody's business other than the person who chooses to donate.

I don't really see a need for this thread actually.

[mokawanis]

99. I agree

It's a personal choice, and everyone should follow their own feelings and reasons without added pressure or judgement from others.

[dlwickham]

109. DU isn't DU without a holier than thou thread every once in a while

[riverbenddem]

36. How does it affect my chances of becoming a zombie?

I don't want to miss out on the fun when the apocalypse occurs....

[dlwickham]

124. good question

can you be fully reanimated if you're missing parts?

[ismnotwasm]

38. I'm a transplant nurse

Where I work, right now are several people waiting for livers because they are too sick to wait anywhere else. They vary widely in age and reasons

I know that not all will be transplanted, and I will be present when they die.


Whatever anyone's reason is for not donating, I understand, but I would ask that you reconsider.


Today's numbers from UNOS

Transplant Trends
Waiting list candidates as of today 12:09pm 117,041
Active waiting list candidates as of today 12:09pm 74,444
Transplants January - October 2012 23,360
Donors January - October 2012 11,663


http://www.unos.org/

[OrwellwasRight]

46. That's one reason why I am not.

People are "waiting" for other people to die. As if it is something they have a "right" to. To me, it's not one person's "right" to hope somebody else dies so they can live. We all die. That is part of life. Our society tries to pretend that it isn't natural. The whole idea that somebody feels they have a right to someone else's organs and are angry when those people do not donate bothers me. It feels selfish and not selfless to me.

More power to those who do. And good for them. I am sure it feels very selfless to them. And certainly it keeps others alive. I would never try to talk them out of it. As for me, I just can't get my head around it. I try and try, but it never adds up for me. Maybe I'll change my mind some day.

Bring on the outcry. I am sure I am now quite unpopular.

[ismnotwasm]

50. I understand

It's an ethical knives edge. I can assure you, that most recipients of organs are even more aware of this and struggle with the idea


I respect your decision.

[Travis_0004]

74. You can have your opinion.

Since you feel that way, would you also refuse an organ if you needed one to save your life?

[OrwellwasRight]

120. Of course.

It would creep me out to be waiting around for others to die so that I could scavenge their parts.

[Motown_Johnny]

41. The link for Michigan doesn't seem to work.

I am a donor but thought it worth double checking.

So many (R)s in our state government that the Sec. of State could have easily screwed up my paperwork.


So I clicked on Michigan and got the "Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.giftoflifemichigan.org" page.



Well, I guess I will just hope that all is well. My sister and brother (all the family I have now) both know that I am a donor so with any luck there won't be a problem.

Then again, by this time I will be dead.. so why the hell do I care?

[csziggy]

42. It really doesn't matter if I have a donor card

It DOES matter that I have told my family my wishes since THEY are the ones who will have to give permission.

Decades ago I used to have a philosophical objection to organ transplants when they were expensive and the prognosis for survival and quality of life was not all that great. Now that medical science has improved and the costs have come down a bit, I have no problem with transplants.

Especially since my sister's example (discussed in a different message in this thread) and since I really don't care what happens to my body after I am dead, I've told my husband and my sister (who are both listed as health care advocates on my legal documents) to use their own judgement.

As much as I have abused my body, I doubt any one will be able to use my organs. I think it would be fun for a forensic pathology class to try to explain all the scars and other damages to my body. I need to make a list of all the injuries I know about so if my body does go to a medical school, they can compare the known injuries to the effects left in the body!

[Paul E Ester]

43. There have been cases where doctors have precipitated the death of a patient

to harvest their organs. They generally sweep these cases away. I bet Ruben Navarro wishes he was not a donor.

"A surgeon with close ties to the Bay Area was charged Monday with prescribing excessive drugs to a comatose, disabled patient to hasten his death and harvest his organs for transplantation.

It’s the first such criminal case against a transplant doctor in the United States, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, of San Francisco, gave a harmful drug and prescribed excessive doses of morphine and a sedative to 26-year-old Ruben Navarro, who died in 2006."

http://www.kaiserthrive.org/2007/07/30/kaiser-doctor-accused-of-speeding-organ-donor-death/

For all the kumbaya about saving lives there is money money money in this industry for everyone except the donor. It's easy to forget we don't have public health and that healthcare in America is a BUSINESS.

[Duer 157099]

55. ^^^ valid concern ^^^^^

It is big business and highly profitable for all but the donor. We need an overhaul of the whole industry.

[Auntie Bush]

100. Wow! Comments and posts like yours don't help encourage people to be doners and help save lives.

My son was an organ donor. When he had a car accident...he got exceptional treatment from the hospital. 24/7 nursing care...and he didn't have insurance. They kept him alive for a week in a coma when many hospitals would have let him pass on. They tried their best but in the end he saved the lives of 4 other people and I'm grateful for that.
Something of him is still alive and so are other people.

Thousands of people are hoping and praying for an organ to save their lives and you my friend are not helping them in any way...you should be ashamed.

[HiPointDem]

117. +1.

[customerserviceguy]

45. OK to take everything except my liver

Medical science wants that!

[ChazII]

47. Neurofibromatosis is why I am not

an organ donor. It is a genetic disorder where tumors grow along the nerves. NF automatically disqualifies me as it would be selfish of me to pass this disorder to anyone else.

[grantcart]

48. Not only that going to donate my body to a medical school.

In a few years when I figure out where the chest opening line is going to be I am going to get a tatoo on the side saying


"Did you wash your hands first?"

[ismnotwasm]

52. Heh!

I wanted to donate mine to criminal cadaver studies. But they can have the organs first, probably wouldn't do any good for them after

[Lugnut]

114. That would be my choice.

I think my body would be better served as a cadaver. I had some interesting cervical spine surgery in the mid-90s that would probably be fascinating for a medical school student to see in the future. I carry my donor card with me and organ donation is on my driver's license. My family is fully aware of my donation.

[HereSince1628]

58. Having seen how that goes...that's one donation I will not be making.

Only because it makes my still living flesh crawl.

[Maeve]

53. Not yet

But when I die, yeah, I will be. :p

[dkf]

54. I am...

It creeps me out to think about it but what the heck.

[Akoto]

59. I'm not a donor.

I'd like to be, but I'm on lifelong pain management for an incurable syndrome, and I'm only 28. Odds are, the pharmacy I swallow every day will render my organs rather undesirable by the time I croak.

However, I do intend to donate my body to science, with hopes that it will put them a step closer to figuring out (and ending the suffering caused by) my particular condition.

[Thinkingabout]

62. I am listed with Life Gift as a donor. We had a member of our group who was a donor and 75 people

benefited from her skin. She was in a fatal car crash and was limited on what was usable. We also found out a kidney from a
96 year old gentleman was used in transplant, so it does not matter if someone is older at time of donation. What a wonderful thought to know you might be able to give to those in need at your death.

[RebelOne]

65. I have been an organ donor for many years now.

In Georgia, when you renew your driver's license, if you choose to be an organ donor, your license is only half price. So I have always opted for it because I could care less to happens to any organs that can be salvaged when I die. I plan to be cremated anyway.

[DollarBillHines]

66. Not me. Hepatitis

After the life that I have led, I cannot imagine why anyone would want any of my organs.

[Brother Buzz]

67. Stage four cancer survivors make lousy donors

I'm just saying.

[ismnotwasm]

69. .

[Auntie Bush]

108. I'm so very sorry Brother Buzz

[Brother Buzz]

113. Nothing to feel sorry about

The worst was seven years ago, followed by years of monthly, then quarterly, then yearly blood work and cat scan crap, and always dreading the bad news. Two years ago, my oncologist was happy to say something he rarely gets to say, "you're a lucky man", and cut me loose.

I was lucky beyond belief to beat some horribly dismal statistics and discovered a totally new perspective on life, to boot. I also discovered I'm a fighter and came to understand I fear nothing anymore.

The only downside to the whole ordeal was developing the 'Chemo' brain and forget huge chunks of my memory that deal with time and dates. I remember everything, I just haven't a clue when any particular event happened; six weeks, six months, or six years ago, I have no clue. Weird, but entertaining for my family.

[Auntie Bush]

121. Glad you posted me the good news...I feel better.

Just remember you got a hug...don't have to remember when you got it.

[SQUEE]

68. malaria, BUT, I have donated my remains to the body farm/ science.

[WhollyHeretic]

70. I'm a donor. I think that non-donors (unless they're unable to donate for medical reasons) should be

put at the end of the waiting lists. Do all the non-donors here plan on refusing organs if they need one?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

72. Hell no.

They would magically change their minds about organ donation.

[Travis_0004]

75. I agree with this

If you want to be at the front of the line to receive organs, than you must sign up to donate organs. I realize there are a lot of people who can't donate, due to medical conditions, but if they want to be put at the front of the list, they should still be required to sign up. Then when they die, let the doctors make the decision if the organs can still be put to good use.

[TM99]

107. Really?

So if I have a different religious belief than yours, I should now be denied life-saving medical care? If I have a medical condition already that precludes even the choice of organ donation, I should now be denied life-saving medical care? If I simply decide that it is my body & I can make a choice for or against donation, then I should now be denied life-saving medical care?

How self-righteous and narcissistic you sound. So, how are you any different that an evangelical who wants to deny birth control to individuals who would choose it? How are you any different than a member of a legislative body who wants to control women's reproductive rights?

[WhollyHeretic]

122. Wow that is some crazy crap you're spewing. First off I said there should be an exception for people

who cannot be donors for medical reasons. If your religion thinks it's wrong for you to be a donor then it should also be wrong to accept organs. Then again religions are all great at ignoring hypocrisy. I don't want to deny anything but if you selfishly refuse to be a donor(again barring a medical reason) then why should you get organs before those who are willing to be donors. There is a big shortage of organs because so many people refuse to be donors but will gladly accept an organ. Your comparison to people who want to control reproductive rights is completely asinine.

[TM99]

123. I see

So you suggest that only those who offer to donate should be allowed to accept donations of organs when medically needed?

That is absolutely 'controlling' behavior based on your own self-professed 'morality'.

Thankfully, you are not the one determining the medical need or who gets an organ. If you had any experience with the system, you would see that it is biased already towards the rich and insured while many who desperately are in need, poor & uninsured, wait. And often they wait until they die.

It should be only by choice that such a decision is ever made. One may object or accept based on religion or no religion. They may object or accept based on medical reasons. They may object or accept simply because they choose to or not to do so --not because they will be punished if they are not 'good' enough and not because they will be brow beaten by moralists like yourself who will pronounce what is right or wrong on this topic.

So, yes, your statement that your belief is the correct one and therefore telling someone what they must do with their own body either during life or after death is exactly like people attempting to control reproductive rights. It is not my problem that you are so blind with emotion on this subject that you can not see that logical conclusion.

So what are your beliefs on cloning and stem cell research? If you are against them, then you are the bigger hypocrite. Once those are allowed to be fully funded and researched, then solutions that involve using 'grown' organs will replace the current system 'harvested' organs.

[LWolf]

71. I have never donated an organ.

Just blood, and I'm on a list of marrow donors.

Whatever bits are worth something after I'm done using them? The world is welcome to them.

[loli phabay]

73. i am not.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

77. Why?

[loli phabay]

83. my belief is that death is just a passing over and i will need my body and belongings in the next

World.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

84. And the bodies in graveyards?

Doesn't seem like they took anything with them.

[loli phabay]

85. different beliefs. no idea what their plan was mayby just that the soul passes over

Harps and clouds stuff. Different beliefs deal with death in different ways and have different cultures about it.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

86. You really believe your body is going to vanish from the earth when you die?

I wasn't aware that had happened.

[loli phabay]

88. well unless you have checked every grave in the world then you dont know

Regardless you dont have to believe in anothers death customs same as they dont need to believe yours.

[Duer 157099]

76. I have been donating hearts all day long

Why wait til I'm dead, I ask myself?

[demwing]

78. Why do you ask?

Seems it's just a setup. Answer the "correct" way of get harangued.

[Blue_In_AK]

79. I'm very happy that someone gave me their corneas

since my old ones looked like orange peels, according to my ophthalmologist (Fuchs corneal dystrophy).

After I'm gone, they may help someone else see better. I've been a donor for as long as I can remember.

[JVS]

80. I'll give the medical industry free material only after they give me free care.

Until then they can fuck right off.

[HiPointDem]

116. That's another consequence of neoliberalism. Once people realize that somebody's making lots of

money off their 'service,' 'volunteerism,' 'donation,' expect less of all of the above.

I feel the same. I used to be an organ donor and changed my status after some egregious case. And there are many egregious cases, everything from rich people getting priority for organs to organs being taken without permission and people making money off the deal.

Too bad. The money men want to privatize everything, they can damn well pay me if they want my organs.

I don't expect anyone to give me theirs, either. btw.

I hope to avoid funeral parlors as well.

00:00:52 >> I sought a direct cremation, and hired new york mortuary to perform the cremation and come and collect his body upon his death, which they did.
00:00:57 And it didn't occur to me that this was something of which i needed to be wary.
00:01:04 >> What happened to cook's body in the funeral home would become part of a body snatching scandal that would rock the country.
00:01:20 >> Prosecutors said it was like something from a cheap horror movie, four men were charged with harvesting bones and tissue from bodies in a funeral home.
00:01:30 >> Allistair cook was just one of thousands of people who was chopped up and sold.

http://www.livedash.com/transcript/how_much_is_your_dead_body_worth_/5406/CNBC/Sunday_April_4_2010/245261/

[JustAnotherGen]

81. I'm giving my body

To medical research. Race and gender do not make sense for the disease I have. If I can make life easier for some 17 year old boy someday by letting the medical facility I'm giving it to rip it apart - that's a good thing. If they can figure out what tripped the gene in me from my skeleton, intestines, heart, pancreas - what went wobbly - then that's a good thing.

I also wish they would take some samples from King Richard III . . . That spine is not simple scoliosis. That's AS. My great grandfather hunched in his late teens, laid dormant, then curved like that in his last ten years. Two men in my support group in their 30's have spines like that. I'm going rigid straight but my rib cage is being altered (closing in) and m left hip bone looks like Richard's did in those pictures.

I'm for science and saving people - but I can help the many if I let scientists take me apart. IE what does my closing rib cage do to my lungs, heart, and upper internal organs? I know how it feels to be out of breath. Maybe they can figure out how to stop it. And with the Iritis - no one is going to want my eyes in 15 or twenty years.

But - if someone doesn't have a genetic disease that is just now being researched - I don't see why one would not want to give that gift to someone else.

[ripcord]

82. Our union has a big push every couple of years

When you drive a truck you never know when you might need a donation, people on the roads are really getting scary, kind of bad to expect to receive but not give.

[ohheckyeah]

87. Strange question for you -

can you pick which organs you will donate?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

90. Yes.

Q: Can I choose which organs and tissue I wish to donate?

A: Yes. You can choose to donate all of your organs and tissues -or simply select specific ones.

Source: http://www.isanorgandonor.com/why-donate.html

[ohheckyeah]

93. Thanks for the information.

My husband has only one kidney. He has first dibs on one from me should he ever need it.

[dickthegrouch]

91. Those of us with diseases that would be life-threatening to the recipient(s)

It would be irresponsible of us to become donors.

But the OP is far too self-righteous to recognize us.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

94. How is my OP self-righteous?

[Gemini Cat]

103. Hmm...

I'm re-reading your original post to find the self-righteousness in it. I couldn't find any. I read it real slow, and I even read it back-wards, still couldn't find any self-righteousness.

[ghurley]

92. I have not signed up for the one on my drivers license, but I do have a living will...

In order: my wife, my parents and finally my brother have the ability to authorize organ donation. As I get older I'll add my children. I want a family member to have control if I do not.

[jeff47]

95. Actually, don't go to the web site.

Talk to your family. It doesn't matter if your driver's license has "organ donor" on it, or if you've got a donor card, or if you've registered somewhere. Your next-of-kin will be the one giving permission.

Make sure they know what your wishes are. Because no matter how many donor cards you have, if they say "no" it's not going to happen. And if they say "yes" it is going to happen, even if you don't have a donor card.

[davidpdx]

96. I'm overseas

I was on the donor list before I left the US.

[uriel1972]

97. I am on the list

but I don't think they would want me Too many illnesses. Diabetes, the gift that keeps on giving /sigh.

[Tom Ripley]

98. I was until developing a chronic blood-borne disease

No one needs my organs now

[DJ13]

101. I'm signed up, but I'm not a donor yet

[Gemini Cat]

104. My best friend recently received a kidney transplant.

So yes, I signed my donor card.

[Terra Alta]

105. I've been an organ donor ever since I first got my learner's permit

I won't be able to use 'em after I'm dead, so why not let people who need them, use them?

[nessa]

106. I am now, but I wasn't because...

My mom was afraid that they may not do everything they should to save your life if you were a donor. That didn't really concern me, but her feelings did concern me. If I died before she did, I didn't want to add to her grief. She passed before I did. Now I am a donor.

When my 7 year old son passed, they didn't ask about donation. At the time, I was such a mess, it was not something that entered my mind. I have wondered since why they didn't ask. I can think of two possibilities, one - his cause of death was not known until autopsy and two, although he was cancer free at the time of his death, he was a cancer survivor.

[Auntie Bush]

110. I'm so sorry about your son.

That's such a painful age to lose a child.

[nessa]

112. Thank you.

back to you. I'm at peace with it, what else can you do.

[HiPointDem]

115. Maybe because of stories like this:

Kristopher was not an organ donor, but within hours after his death, his dad got a call from a woman representing One Legacy, an organ and tissue recovery organization in L.A...He said he gave permission to donate some of Kristopher’s ligaments, tendons and his pericardium, the sac around the heart, in the hopes of giving others the gift of life.

But when Carrico got the autopsy report he found they took a lot more.

“They removed the upper and lower leg bone and they removed the heart, not just the sack around the heart. They took his whole heart out, which really hurt me very deeply,” Carrico said.

The hurt was magnified when he says he called One Legacy to complain and found out that they may have received money for recovering his son’s tissues, which he says he thought were being donated.

“That made me feel like I’ve been used, treated like a chump,” he said.

One Legacy is based here in L.A. and is the only organ and tissue recovery organization in Southern California. If you agreed to donate organs through the DMV, it will be handled by One Legacy.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/11/investigation-tissue-and-organ-donations-can-save-a-life-but-at-what-cost/

[rl6214]

119. I am not

Type 1 diabetic for 30 years, I can't even donate blood or plasma.

[GreenStormCloud]

125. Can't donate. I take too many meds.

I used to donate blood regularly, until I started some of my meds.

[catbyte]

126. I am also a bone marrow donor. Mixed race people are very scarce.

You may want to consider that too.