organ donation: it's all good and generous until somebody loses their life
Organ donation may seem like a win-win situation at first glance.
What's not to like? You get to be a hero by giving your organs to someone who
needs them to survive. So what do you have to lose?...The reality is, there is
something vital that you could lose...your organs.
Most people check the organ donation box on their license without
giving possible consequences much thought. This decision may seem simple at the
time, but the situation can be complicated if you are in a critical medical
situation, and perhaps, not quite "dead."
Many patients who become desirable donors are those with
severe brain trauma, many given a diagnosis of "brain death." These
patients are prime candidates for organ donation, because vital organs such as
the heart and lungs can only be transplanted from a living person.
You heard right, a LIVING PERSON. In 1968, a Harvard Ad Hoc Committee developed the term "brain death" to define a persistent coma as a new criterion for death. Why? To harvest organs for transplantation and to remove life support from patients to keep from overcrowding intensive care units of hospitals.
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In different cases patients diagnosed as "brain dead" are capable of responding to touch, maintaining a normal body temperature, growing, digesting food and even carrying a baby to full-term. We are pretty sure dead people cannot do these things, not to mention, every one of these functions requires some level of brain activity to occur.
So this is where the concern begins. It is no doubt, a good and generous thing to donate organs after death, but if you are laying on that table with a severe brain injury, that little sticker on your drivers license may be the only reason a doctor needs to prepare you for harvest instead of performing life-saving treatment.
If you do not want to take the risks associated with organ donation, there are several steps you can take.
1) Make sure your drivers license does not list you as an organ donor. If it is printed on the card, go to the DMV and get a new one.
2) Carry an organ donor refusal card in your wallet. (You can call HLA at 651-484-1040 to get these cards)
3) Set up an Advanced Directive with trustworthy agents who know you do not want to donate organs.
In different cases patients diagnosed as "brain dead" are capable of responding to touch, maintaining a normal body temperature, growing, digesting food and even carrying a baby to full-term. We are pretty sure dead people cannot do these things, not to mention, every one of these functions requires some level of brain activity to occur. So this is where the concern begins. It is no doubt, a good and generous thing to donate organs after death, but if you are laying on that table with a severe brain injury, that little sticker on your drivers license may be the only reason a doctor needs to prepare you for harvest instead of performing life-saving treatment.
If you do not want to take the risks associated with organ donation, there are several steps you can take.
1) Make sure your drivers license does not list you as an organ donor. If it is printed on the card, go to the DMV and get a new one.
2) Carry an organ donor refusal card in your wallet. (You can call HLA at 651-484-1040 to get these cards)
3) Set up an Advanced Directive with trustworthy agents who know you do not want to donate organs.
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