Asklemmy @lemmy.ml

9mo ago

Are you registered to donate your organs? Why or why not?

If you're in the US, register here: https://registerme.org/

197 comments

I am - in the UK - and I think that it should be opt out rather than opt in.
- It is, they changed it a while back.
- I'd go so far as to say there should be no choice available to opt out
  
  I think the vast majority of people who, even if they have some discomfort around the idea, would not care enough to opt out. The only effect of not allowing opt out, I think, would be to cause considerable distress to those who do care a lot about not donating. I don't agree with their stance but I don't think they should be forced to donate, especially if we can get enough organs just from making it opt out instead of opt in
  
  Wtf? The state doesn't own our bodies.

Just so everyone knows, you can't really transplant dead organs (at least not as safely or with the success of live organs).
They can only use your organs if you die in a hospital setting. They will keep pumping blood to your organs after you die to keep them "fresh" and "alive."
Post-death organ transfer exists but is way more risky than an organ that was recently in a living, functioning body.
So if you've ever considered it, keep in mind that you have to die at a hospital for it to happen, and even then, they're still technically forcing your body to be alive to keep these organs alive.
Source: Friend who lost his leg to amputation during a COVID-coma. They didn't think he would make it. He woke up in the donor ward. EDIT: Just to be clear, this happened during peak COVID before the vaccines when bodies were just piling up everywhere. I don't think a coma patient waking up in the donor ward is a normal thing, I think it happened because COVID was a fucked up situation and people were overwhelmed.
- What does it even look like when you wake up in a donor ward? Was he a write-off and the doctors were just like 'oh shit, he's awake'? Do non-donors simply get disposed of instead of being brought there?
  
  He's older and it's been tough to get explicit details from him, but yeah it sounds like because it was during COVID and beds for bodies were so scarce, on top of the fact that they didn't have high hopes for him surviving (so many people his age with COVID just never made it), that they were keeping in there for simplicity's sake. Anyway, it spurred me to begin looking into organ donation actually functions, and I mean, it makes sense, I just hadn't really thought about it before that you technically have to have your body being kept alive to be able to donate the organs. A rotting organ probably isn't very useful. That's why it usually happens with terminal patients where the outcome is 100% they are gonna die. During COVID, with bodies piling up, and lack of open beds in hospitals, it at least makes sense to me that he would have ended up there, in case he didn't wake up. It was pandemonium, at the time. Sadly, it seems to have kind of messed with his head to wake up in that situation, he's a lot less trustful of doctors now.
- Sorry to hear about your friend.
  I don't think knowing this fact should discourage anyone from choosing to be a donor, though. It just means that yeah, it's unlikely that you'll be in a position where they can use your organs when you die, but it doesn't hurt to be put on the list just in case.
  Iirc, I think a lot of organ donations end up being from people in motor vehicle accidents.
  I did get to see one case where they harvested the person's bones instead of their organs. Didn't even know that was a thing. I'm not sure if they died in a hospital setting or not. Might be you get more time to harvest bones as opposed to organs?
  
  Oh yeah, I hope I don't dissuade anyone. I just hadn't ever really deeply thought about it before, despite being a registered organ donor. It's an interesting conundrum to me, because you need fresh, live organs, but you can't reasonably take those from fresh, live people most of the time, so you need people who are literally on death's door, who aren't going to make it, to have their bodies kept artificially alive for the purpose of organ transfer. COVID was just a fucked up situation all around with not enough beds and so many people dying. My friend had a rough experience, but it's hardly the norm.
- I worked as a transplant coordinator for a few years, and you're mostly right, but there qre a few points I would clarify.
  Dead is dead. All transplants are post death.
  All of your organs need oxygen to keep functioning. When they don't have oxygen, the cells die and the organ stops working, but you can be dead and have functioning organs.
  When your brain is deprived of oxygen, the neurons stop firing and you're gone. Dead is the irreversible cessation of brain activity. Sometimes organs can heal, but once your brain is gone, you're dead.
  Sometimes that happens because your heart stops beating. The muscle in your heart can also die, and it will stop pumping blood. This heart failure deprives your brain of blood, and then you die. When your heart is failing, you can stimulate the heart to keep beating and continue to live. But if your heart stops beating and you die, that is called a cardiovascular death.
  You may also lose oxygen due to a failure of the lungs. Lungs put oxygen in your blood, and if your lungs fail, you don't get oxygen to your brain and you die. This could be related to the lungs, the vasculature between the heart and lungs, or any combination of the three.
  The liver and the kidneys work to filter the blood. If either of these fail, your blood can become toxic and poison your heart, your lungs, and/or your brain. The liver and kidneys also need oxygen to live, so if your heart stops beating or your lungs stop providing oxygen, then they will begin to die at the same time as your heart.
  Like your organs, your muscles, skin, and nerves also need oxygen to live, and if you have trouble getting oxygen to your peripheral systems, your limbs can begin to die and become necrotic. Necrotic tissue creates a feedback loop of decay in your blood stream, and often requires amputation.
  Covid affects both the lungs and the heart. Lung damage reduces oxygen in the blood, and heart failure reduces the flow of blood to the extremities.
  Now, in the event of a traumatic brain injury, like a motorcycle accident, the brain can be killed before the other organs begin to die. The heart has a special mechanism that allows it to continue beating without input from the brain. These are ideal circumstances for organ donation, because the donor has died but their transplantable organs are in good condition.
  It might be different in other countries, but in the USA, there is a network of transplant professionals that work together to procure and distribute transplants. They work with the hospitals to identify potential donors and talk to the families about donation options.
  The hospital would call the local organ procurement organization every time any patient had a traumatic brain injury, even before they died. Patients would continue to receive treatment in the same area of the hospital by the same doctors and nurses. There is no "donor ward" and the only difference in treatment is that additional efforts will be made to keep the transplantable organs alive.
  The patient's doctor wants to keep their brain alive along with everything else, and they only stop trying when it becomes impossible to succeed.
  So, while I'm sure that your friend really did experience the loss of a limb, and I'm certain the OPO had dispatched a transplant coordinator to evaluate your friend for donation, there's no way the family was approached for possible donation without a dire prognosis (or maybe they asked). The approach would have been in the same conversation where they discuss withdrawing care because there is no hope.
  The doctors and the family may have mentioned that they had discussed donation to demonstrate how dire the situation seemed, and how close to death your friend was, but they would not have altered his care at all or moved him to a special section for donors.
  
  His parents both died of COVID while he was in the coma. While I'm sure you're very correct in everything you're saying, he was basically a "ward of the State" at that point, considering his "family" was now deceased. He was already on SSI when this happened, and his parents dying kind of fucked up a lot of things because suddenly he had an inheritance and Social Security cut off his SSI funding because now he had technically too much money to qualify.
  
  ICU PA here who frequently deals with all of this. Amazing information, thank you.
  Would just like to add to the conversation that tissue like corneas can still be donated in even circumstances where other more sensitive organs are nonviable. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
  
  Now, in the event of a traumatic brain injury, like a motorcycle accident, the brain can be killed before the other organs begin to die. The heart has a special mechanism that allows it to continue beating without input from the brain. These are ideal circumstances for organ donation, because the donor has died but their transplantable organs are in good condition.
  This is why they call them donor-cycles! Also why early summer is peak donation time. Yay!

Judging by this comment thread I'm not the only one who's like "you can have them, but I don't know if you're going to want them"
- There's some of us that probably have perfectly good organs, but due to various blood born viruses we can't donate even though we squashed the buggers with new medications.

Healthcare in the US is run for profit. From 2020 estimates, they charge $1.6 million for a heart transplant. $1.3 million to transplant a pair of lungs, $880 thousand for a liver, and $440 thousand for a kidney. This is what for profit hospitals charge patients while giving your next of kin nothing for the organs that made it possible.
They don't pay you for your organs. They will still bill your estate for any care other than the organ removal despite your generosity.
I would happily be an organ donor in a country with a non-profit healthcare system. But because of how heathcare is run in this country, I would rather my organs be left to rot.
- I agree it's horrible, but also I don't see it as a large enough reason to not donate. The person receiving the organs is probably not the cause of this. It's like not working because your labor mostly goes to the elites. It's not a great plan, even if it does feel good.

Thankfully it's opt-out in Slovakia, so yes.
I'll be dead. Do whatever with my body. Take the organs, fuck it, feed it to animals, compost it, use it as shooting target, turn me into soap, I won't care. I literally won't be able to care. Why even decline?
- I would buy your soap
- id personally be ok if people didn't use my dead body as a shooting target. soap would be pretty nice tho.
- Fuck it?
- Woa

of course.
i'll be dead and won't need them while others might. how selfish of me not to give them over

Twin.
I wish I could properly state the right of first sale he has, given it's his DNA (well, he has mine, anyway).
Fun fact: organs donated between perfect twins have no short- or long-term rejection issues. So unlike a regular donation that prolongs life for a decade or two, if he can drug me and steal my kidneys in sleazy Mexican motel, it's a permanent fix.
Hell, when I go, maybe he'll take a spare kidney or pancreas or something, and just, you know, hook them up. Totally fine with me.
- Imagine taking everything. Splice both kidneys in there and get that ultra pure blood. Climb Mount Everest with no supplemental oxygen using a second set of lungs. Four nuts.
  If I had a twin, he'd have to watch his back
- That went unexpectedly dark.
  
  I thought it was sweet

Yes I am registered, because I ride motorcycles and I won't need my organs if I'm dead.

I've been registered for a while now. I really don't see a good reason not to, they only take 'em if I'm dead and what good are they to me then? Better going to someone in need.
- Exactly this.... Something that, at the moment of donation, literally means less than zero to you, could literally be a new lease in life for someone else

No.
My mom got double brain aneurism. Had her head cut open to put clamps on the leaking arteries.
Slipped into a coma, few days later doctor came in to convince us for prepping her for organ donor, dad said it was too early.
Another few days later doctors came in being really rude that all she was good for was organ donor. Had a heated conversation with my dad who got tired and said "fck off doctors".
Few days later she woke up. After revalidation she has a healthy life, this was 37yrs ago, she still lives, she is 71.
My dad told my awake mum and since I was underaged opted me out for organ donor. Needles to say, I am reluctant to opt myself back in.
Optional read: aftermath of the aneurism is that the part of the brain to process visual data was damaged. Other parts of her brain took that role but is not as effective. Her depth perception any further that 10m is gone. She has no vertical peripheral processing, so she has to tilt her head up or down to recognize what she noticed i' her peripheral, one cannot imagine this seeing something but unable to recognize until you point your head at it :) in the end, very good outcome.
- Damn that's double fucked. What a disappointing story. I've still got myself down for organ donation because it's more likely to be done in good will than not, but that's a very sad story.
  Do people pay for organ transplants where you are? I wonder if it's not necessarily altruism but money that is pushing the doctor's hand to jump the gun.
  
  No people do not pay, it is a national waiting list of first come first go. I live in Belgium, mom's doctors were from France (specialists). We are supposed to be at the top of free and good health care. So this did not happen in some back lawsless country. (don't mean this patronizing)
- That's like donating to wikipedia, you think you're doing a good thing but they reveal pretty quickly how big of a mistake that actually was.
  
  Why is that?

I like the system in Singapore. Organ donation is mandatory, though you can complete a form to opt out. If you're on the opt-out register, you have a lower priority to receive organ transplants. Fair is fair.
- I feel like Singapore should be the gold standard of how to do most things that don't involve the justice system or surveillance. They seem to do most things right. Or maybe I'm just getting a golden picture? Lol
  
  They pay their government leaders really well, which I think is kind of interesting.

Throwing this post out there for a bit of visibility and discussion.
For me, I just registered 5 minutes ago. Idgaf what they use my body for, as long as someone learns something it's a net positive at no expense to me.
- So if a necrophiliac uses your dead body to "learn better techniques" you're cool with it?
  
  As the great Frank Reynolds once said "Fill me up with cream, turn me into a cannoli, make a stew out of my ass. What's the big deal? Bang me, eat me, grind me up into little pieces, throw me in the river. Who gives a shit? Ya dead, ya dead."
  
  Shame I won't be around to share in the experience
  
  Techniques to be a better lover? 🤔 For who?

Yep. Pessimistic about anything still being useful at this point, but hoping I am wrong.
- There are also cadaver farms where they study how bodies decompose in different conditions to help with forensic science.

Here in Belgium everyone is a donor unless you register that you don't want to donate your organs.
- Same default settings in France, although your organs can only be used for transplant. Using them for teaching and practicing in medical school still needs your explicit (prior) consent.

In Austria you have to register to NOT be an organ donor. So we have about 99% donors (after brain death). I am a donor too, as I neither care about my body once I am dead nor bother to register for anything.

As a very strong believer in Danny DeVito's quote, "When I'm dead, just throw me in the trash!", if any medical party is even remotely interested in dumpster diving for my parts when I'm done with them, they can have 'em. Better than throwing them in a box and taking up land in a cemetary. The less of my remains uselessly taking up space on this planet after death, the better. If I get my way upon my demise, anything they don't take is going into the incinerator anyway.
- Sounds like a Frank Reynolds quote!

Yes I am. As for why, my organs will save peoples lives,
I was already a donor before my sister died but it really solidified my stance when she saved three people's lives with her kidneys and liver. They needed it more than the crematorium needed them.

Yes, definitely.
I received a live donor kidney transplant over a decade ago, and because of that, my quality of life drastically improved, and I lived long enough to meet my kid and my nieces and nephews.
I've got complex medical issues, so my organs might not be any good, but they're going to be available when I'm gone.

Yes. Probably been registered for more than 10 years now. I’m in Sweden and it was a super easy online form to fill in.
When I die there’s probably someone else who needs my organs more than me.

No, I'm one of those weird people that because my family moved to the UK when I was little in the late 80s for work for a year I'm under risk of mad cow disease and none of us can donate blood or organs. Learned that the sad way when trying to give blood in college, like half a dozen random things that can disqualify you that you might not realize.
- FYI, in Australia they scrapped the rule a couple years ago and you would've been able to donate now (at least blood, not sure about organs).
  Wherever you are, maybe check again if they've relaxed the rule.
  
  Unfortunately I am in United States of Freedom. Good to know though, thanks.
- You can donate your organs, if you die of a head injury. You cannot donate tissues like bone, skin, or corneas, because those are considered "life enhancing." Donated tissue has a similar restriction to donated blood, so you're right about that bit.
  Organs like the kidneys, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, and stomach are "life saving" and don't have any restrictions. When you die, you'll be evaluated for any potential donation, and if you are a candidate for donating organs, someone will come talk to your family about it. Talk to your family about what you would want.
- Jesus, that's awful

My spouse and I are registered to donate our bodies to a medical college. If we can advance medicine in even a small way, it is still a move to better life and health.
- Best we can do is weird grift where no one bothers even remembering your names.

I'm set to donate my body to science. Maybe I even get to be a skeleton in a class room or sum 💀

Yes, I don't see why not. What else am I gonna do with my organs when I'm dead?

Up until now here in Germany we had a "system" that was a paper(!) card you put in your wallet if you were ok with donating your organs. That's obvioisly not an ideal system and Germany has far to few donors. We now moved to an online system and being Germany it's (as far as I've heard, I haven't tried it yet - which might be a sign that this is not going to be a great solution) is super complicated and convoluted. So basically even worse than the piece of paper in your wallet (seems impossible but for Germany business as usual when it comes to anything digital).
Personally this would be one of the very few things were I would be ok with something being opt-out instead of opt-in but I don't see that happening.
- How weird that it's so different just over the border. Here in the Netherlands it's opt-out and afaik it was quite easy to enroll when it was still opt-in.
- Apparently the paper card is still valid, there's the online thing and you can also put it in you advance directive(? that sounds made up, I mean "Patient*innenverfügung):
  https://www.organspende-info.de/organspendeausweis-ja-oder-nein/

No, both to receive and give organs. I'm just not comfortable with the idea.
- Look to be honest I don't agree with your stance but I respect the fact that you both don't wish to donate and more importantly receive. I fell some people would be quite happy to take but not give.
  
  The real test is how they feel when they actually need the organs.
  Not meaning to call anyone out, but it's easy to say no to organs when you're life isn't on the line.

Yes because why not. I doubt they will be of much use, but feel free to harvest anything you want. It would be the most useful I've been in my existence.

Yeah, why not? Wtf am I going to do with them when I'm dead?

Yes, it just feels like the right thing to do. Why let them go to waste if they can help someone else live.

I'm registered to donate, they won't take them unless I get an expensive genetic test. My brother just passed away, and they wouldn't let him donate anything because we had an aunt a couple of generations ago who had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a prion disease that causes dementia)

No need to register in Brazil, you just have to tell your family members, as they're asked whether or not they're ok with your organs being donated. I've already told my family to, once I die, donate all of my organs that might still be in good shape
- I read this and assumed it was going to have a dark twist i.e. people just take them when you walk into the wrong favela.

I am not registered, but I have a organ donor card (where I approve organ donations).
Background:
Germany just recently (18th of March this year) launched an online database where you can register your preference. Until then there was only a small organ donor card that you could fill out and carry with you.
Reason I haven't registered there yet is that I first need to unlock the online function on my passport (nowadays always enabled, but I still have one from when it was optional). So I'll eventually get around to doing both.
As for my reasoning behind being a donor:
I would like to receive them in an emergency (or for someone I care about to do so).
And in case I become a donor I am not there anymore to care about what people do with my organs.
- TIL, registering there right away.
  I've had my donor card for a long time now (for about the same reasons as you), this solution seems at least a little better. I would still very much welcome an "opt-out" system, or something that would make the decision mandatory for everyone. You can always say no with no questions ask, but there are likely so many people that would have no problem donating but just never thought about the topic.
  
  Yeah, i'd have also loved if we moved to an "opt-out" system or one where you are asked to choose at some point.
  If we had more than enough organs for everyone we might be able to afford the "luxury" to not adress the issue, but we don't. And compared to the very real consequences this deficit has, it really isn't a burden to reverse the burden through opt-out or at least force people to choose. Not making a choice has just as much consequences, if not more (since it leaves it ambiguous for others that might later have to make the choice for you).
  And as you said the majority probably has no problem being a donor, but the default state is a form of apathy/lazyness/ignorance. So like with many other issues a top down approach would be way more effective, compared to putting the burden on every single individual to be proactive.

Not american, so that link doesn't apply to me. Here everyone is a potential donor, and the family decides. My immediate family knows full well that my organs are FFA when I don't need them anymore.
- In the US, it's actually up to the next of kin, too. When you die, they technically own your corpse. Registering basically just makes a record of your opinion. Even if you aren't registered, I think your family can decide to donate the spare parts

I’m not. I’m aware of how selfish it is but something in my system of belief that I have (undefined? spiritual? no idea?) says that when I’m dead, I should be ALL dead.
Like, if there’s any kind of afterlife, will leaving a functioning part me behind hold up the transition? This even sounds fucked up to me because I’m 100% not religious at all.
I would just prefer all of me to be dead or all of me to be alive. Not fractions of both at the same time.
- Don't think of it as selfish. Your body is one of the few things in this world that is truly, indisputably yours. It's entirely up to you if you're comfortable with donation. If you're not, there's no criticism to be made.
- I'm the same way. The idea of some part of me living on and ending up who knows where freaks me out. (The same way I'd be, while extremely grateful, also weirded out having a transplant and knowing some dead person's inside me). And I guess I'd like to know with certainty I will be safe and AT REST in some place. Yes I understand that all of this is irrational. But no matter how many times I read these debates, I can't seem to let go and make it feel okay. Like you, I'm not religious.
  So yeah I get that I sound cuckoo, the same way I think religions sound cuckoo. I guess this means I'm spiritual in a way, or just agnostic. Because if I was truly atheist, none of this would matter and I wouldn't care.
  Also I like to think it's somehow related to me being a bit of a pack-rat (maybe not a hoarder, but definitely a pack-rat). I tend to ascribe feeling to objects and get attached and then can't throw stuff out. Lol.
  That being said – I'd be all for it if my organs were given to a loved one. 100% no qualms about it.

I think I'm ineligible. I think my sibling tried to register but was they were told they were ineligible because we lived in Europe in the 80's
- What was in Europe in the 80s?
  
  I think it was due to a minor Mad Cow disease outbreak. We were also ineligible to donate blood until about a couple years ago
  
  Chernobyl?

Yes I am.
When I die, my organs are no longer of any use to me, but could improve someone else's life. I'm not sentimental about my corpse. I'll donate anything that's still useful. I don't even mind if medical students use my bones to play pranks on each other. Heck, I think I'd prefer that.

I am and I hope to have everything unsalvageable cremated

the best thing i could ever do at the last moment of my life is help someone else get a second chance

Yes. I'd like to donate my body to science too, but I want to see if there's a way to do it non-profit. I'm not interested in helping make someone rich.
- Lots of medical schools have programs.

Yeah but I wasn't for a long time. There was a spiderman cartoon where mary jane was targeted for murder because her name was in a database of organ donors and the villain needed her organs for his wife or something. scared the shit out of me when I was a kid and I had a knee jerk reaction when filling out the form I never really thought about. someone had to directly ask me before I realized I had based this decision on a cartoon I saw when I was 5.
- What a message to give to kids, wow.

Yep. Although I'm pretty sure no one would want them.

Yes because hopefully someone better than me will get them and make a real difference in the world.

Only because there's no box on the license application that says "donate body to be chummed and thrown on rich people".
But for real if my vacated body can save someone else's life or make it better by all means get that shit.

I am. Because why not?
- Same, not like I'm gonna need them.

Yes, though my lifestyle may mean some are no good.
- I don't know the specifics by country, but you could donate your body to science (medicine schools, etc.) Your life could be useful in the classroom 😄

Not sure if I'm completely registered, but any time I've been asked I check Yes, and I have it checked on my health card.
Like you said: "why not?" Not like I'll be using them any more at that point.

Nice try fed, won't get my organs that easily

Yes, because I'd want others to be if I needed it.

I'm volunteer to donate because of I accidentally die, rather that it deserve someone who would have more luck than me rather than no one.
Now in Belgium it works a bit differently. Everyone is, by default, considered as a donor.
You can then register to either refuse it or to impose it whatever your family says.
This is because the law is that the doctors must always ask the family if they are ok to give organs from diseased family member even with the "by default donor", with the registration you can say "don't ask my family and just do it".
This can be used in two situation in my opinion, the first one being family that have different conviction and may refuse despite the opinion of the diseased. The second situation (mine) being not wanting to worry grieving family with one more difficult decision to take.

I am, but I probably shouldn't be. My organs are...not in the best shape.
- Good news, we have a match for you!
  Somewhat good news, your new lungs are little dinged up and have mileage on them.
  Bad news, we're still charging you full price for these lungs. Enjoy your medical debt.
  
  Your lungs have a best buy date. Good luck! Oh, and your new pancreas? Fuggetaboutit.

By default in our country. You have to unregister if you don't want it.

Yep. I'll be dead anyway, so I have no use for them anymore. If it can save someone's life then imo it'd be a bit selfish not to. I was already registered when it was still opt-in, but now it's become opt-out here in the Netherlands so even better. It'll make sure that a lot of people who don't care either way will now save life's that we otherwise wouldn't.

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