What's your thoughts on being an organ donor?

[Raineyrocks]

I don't know if anybody remembers when Gov. Casey from Pennsylvania needed an organ and all of the sudden this guy was shot during a crime and wham Casey got his organ.  Do you remember that?  I've always wondered why he got his needed organ so fast, I mean isn't there a list of people that need organs that they go by?  Like when it's your turn then you get the organ.

That always made me leary, (sp?), of checking it off  anyplace that would say I'm an organ donor.  I don't want a rich person getting my organs unless it's his turn on the number sheet.  Plus I wonder if doctors would work as hard as they could to keep me alive, especially if there's some rich guy/girl waiting for an organ.

Another thing that I wonder about too is what a coincidence that this guy that got shot was a perfect match for Casey, isn't that just a little creepy?

Has anyone watched the movie The Eye yet?  It was pretty neat!

[David]

That's a toughie. 
Politically connected people will never die due to the waiting list for a rare donation. 
Bob Smith, (he swears that is his real name) promotes down on the lower right of his site  http://www.smith.mn/  something called Life Sharers  http://www.lifesharers.org/   .  If you are an organ donor, you get put on a second list, one specifically for organ donors only.  If something goes wrong on your body, you will be elegible for a donation faster than others due to your willingness to donate your own. 

[srqrebel]

...I don't want a rich person getting my organs unless it's his turn on the number sheet.  Plus I wonder if doctors would work as hard as they could to keep me alive, especially if there's some rich guy/girl waiting for an organ.

Just wanted to point out that the real evil here is political manipulation, which amounts to legitimized fraud.

In a world where there is no "government" tampering with the economy, hence no more colossal parasitic burden on productive businesspeople, wealth would increasingly trend toward those who earn it through outstanding efforts at creating and marketing genuine values for others. Likewise, in such a world, those who are chonically poor would be those who do not make good on their personal responsibility to cultivate competency at creating and marketing values for others.

It would only be fair, IMO, for those noble individuals who provide the rest of us with the greatest values, to be rewarded with priority when it comes to limited lifesaving resources. That is the justice inherent in the decentralized, spontaneous Free Market Civilization that I am working toward.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I've always wondered why he got his needed organ so fast, I mean isn't there a list of people that need organs that they go by?

I don't like politicians BUT I'm not willing to assume that all of the doctors, nurses, administrators and facilitators of an organ transplant bumped people specifically to get him his organ. Or more specificially, if they DID, that the chances of getting that group of people happens frequently enough.

I recall (thought not specificially) the opposite cases happening where a 35 year old father is "denied" a kidney that goes to an 80-year old woman for instance. The truth is, organ transplants are a bit tougher than we really imagine. Say the donor dies, from the moment of death the body ceases to maintain that organ so there's literally a race against time from death to transplantation. Not only must the organ match (blood type, Rh factor, certain genetic markers, et cetera) but it also has to be close enough to the recipient to be transplanted before the organ fails. It's VERY possible that the Governer actually WAS the only matching candidate who needed THAT organ and could have been in the OR within the 3 hour timeframe before the organ died.

Now I will agree that being a governer probably enabled him to GET "the call" saying "We've got a liver, get to the OR" because he had an aide taking phone calls at 3:05 am, or that his ability to get to the OR in those three hours might have been enhanced by having helicopters at his disposal.

But on the flip side, let's say this was a self-made billionare rather than a politician, I'd have NO problem with him getting the organ since his hiring an aide and purchasing a helicopter gave him an advantage without harming others... It is (IMO) just a different arm of medical insurance. My ONLY conflict comes from the politician, since it's quite likely that the people he's using that helicopter to compete with were forced to fund that helicopter.

I'd much prefer if I could contract to sell my organs though. I think a LOT more people would be willing to offer organs upon their death if they were able to sell them, or if stem cell research or tissue cloning were permitted.

[David]

Though there is quite a bit of risk to the donor, a person can have I believe up to 3/4 of his liver removed to donate to someone and not only survive, but the liver will grow back.  It is the only body part that will regularly grow back.  It should be legal to sell your own liver.  That would be one hell of an act of civ dis if I had the guts to do it.   

[ByronB]

I am a organ donor, I seriously have my witness signatures and everything... however it is specified that I will only donate my brain, nothing else. So next time sometime in the future when some poor body has a damaged brain and I've probably crashed my Kawasaki ZX12R I can rest peacefully knowing I am doing all I can to save some unfortunates body.

[Beth221]

thats if your brain made it in good condition after a bike crash!  When ever I ride on a motorcycle, i think, "my poor mother, surely going over 100mph means the casket will be closed!"


What bugs the hell out of me with organ donating is, (i am an organ donor) is everyone gets paid for my my bits and pieces except me (or my family), same with blood donations.  WHy cant I sell my blood, or my eyeballs when I am done with them?  Or a kidney, I have two of them.  Everyone makes a profit off me.  I know someone who works for a blood center, she was paid about 15 bucks an hour, plus benefits, not too bad for only taking a crash course in poking people in the arms, and the blood center sold the pints of blood for $1200 a piece to the hospitals.  WTF, all i get is a few cookies and a glass of OJ. 

I am on the bone marrow list, because my employer at the time granted 8 weeks paid sick time if one of us was picked to donate. 

The system now SUCKS..  But, i always think, if i needed an organ, or some bone marrow because I am sick, I would like to hope someone would donate to me, I would like to see them get compensated. 

To toss a wrench in it, what about women donating eggs?  its 5-10K per donation.  I would love to do it, but I cant seem to stick myself in the ass with a needle..  I always think, would if I cant get pregnant, or have a child of my own, I would be praying for someone to help me out.  Anyone want to stick me for a  grand? 

[ReverendRyan]

I am a organ donor, I seriously have my witness signatures and everything... however it is specified that I will only donate my brain, nothing else. So next time sometime in the future when some poor body has a damaged brain and I've probably crashed my Kawasaki ZX12R I can rest peacefully knowing I am doing all I can to save some unfortunates body.

That's cheating. That wouldn't be a brain transplant for them, it's a body transplant for you.

Personally, I can see no justified argument for not donating organs.

[kola]

organ donation should be like everything else in a free thinking freedom lover. It should be a personal decision.

i choose not to donate any part of my sacred body. I choose not to accept anyone elses blood but my own. and I choose not to have any type of "life saving" resusitation.

although the idea of organ doning and transplants may have came about from caring individuals, the "organ donor" system is now rampant with corruption. And just look what they are doing in china by harvesting organs from non-consenting inmates... and yes the rich and famous get preferential treatment...and remember most often the human body will reject someone elses organ and most often the person will have to take immune supressing drugs.

as always this is one of my beliefs that were are stepping over the line and screwing with the natural laws of nature..same as I despise human and animal cloning...and drastic plant cloning (ie  splicing fish tissue into tomato plants in hopes that the tomato can withstand colder temps). this kind of shit would never happen in nature.

we will (and have) been paying the price for messing with these laws.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

as always this is one of my beliefs that were are stepping over the line and screwing with the natural laws of nature

Nature took away our fur and claws, gave us brains and sticks. I respect your opinion, but I consider human intellect and our ability to manipulate our environment to be just as natural as a cow chewing cud. Either it's a natural law and can't be broken or it's not really a natural law.

And just look what they are doing in china by harvesting organs from non-consenting inmates

That's an issue of violence and not organ donation IMO. Using that as a reason not to donate organs is like choosing celebecy because rape happens. If that's your choice, okay, but I can't understand the logic there.

most often the person will have to take immune supressing drugs.

A lot of people would rather pop pills and deal with side effects than be dead. I'm not exactly sure to what extent I'd take that, but I think I would too.

same as I despise human and animal cloning

Cloning occurs naturally. Most members of the genus Dasypus (Armadillas!) give birth to quadruplet twins. Cloning is merely the creation of two individuals with the same DNA compliment. It doesn't really matter if the DNA is put in with a penis or a micropipette.

and drastic plant cloning (ie  splicing fish tissue into tomato plants in hopes that the tomato can withstand colder temps)

Most virii infiltrate their host cells and swap out genetic material (RNA usually) to avoid detection or trick other cells into thinking it is benign. There are some forms of bacteria which have more advance genetic material (DNA) and do the same things. This is actually the premise by which gene therepy was developed. The only thing gene therepy does is pick which gene it is that gets swapped around.

DNA crossing from species is ALSO natural. In fact, more and more evidence is appearing as genomes are mapped that two major food crops (rice and corn) are transgenic and that ALL plants that produce flowers were created by the natural transfer of genes from one species to another. Some theorists are going as far as saying that transgenetic migration is MORE important to evolution than even mutation.

[kola]

Nature took away our fur and claws, gave us brains and sticks. I respect your opinion, but I consider human intellect and our ability to manipulate our environment to be just as natural as a cow chewing cud. Either it's a natural law and can't be broken or it's not really a natural law.

I do not share your beliefs of evolution..and "nature" taking away hair and teeth etc. I respect your opinion though. we also taked before about "natural law" and appears (as usual) I have a different definition than most. So I will not even go into taht aspect of discussion.

[kola]

A lot of people would rather pop pills and deal with side effects than be dead. I'm not exactly sure to what extent I'd take that, but I think I would too

I agree and respect their choices, I was just presenting my personal opinion. Not all organ recipents have a good quality of life. I have zero fear of death and passing on is not such a big deal to me. I honor the day when it comes and look forward to the journey. the people that are close to me understand my wishes. This physical life here on earth is just a short bus stop before the real journey and final destination. But we all (almost all of us) have been raised to fear the unknown so we make decisions based on this questionable logic. I certainly dont buy that heaven and hell story either. In my beliefs there is no hell. My Creator is loving and would never do such nonsense. Would you do that to your own childreN? what makes people think God would do that? Its all about fear and keeping people shackled in the body and mind. No thanks.   

[kola]

Cloning occurs naturally. Most members of the genus Dasypus (Armadillas!) give birth to quadruplet twins. Cloning is merely the creation of two individuals with the same DNA compliment. It doesn't really matter if the DNA is put in with a penis or a micropipette.

twins birth ARE natural when woman and man do what is a normal living function (engaging in reproduction). To procreate is a gift from God. But I wasn;t really speaking of twins and I gave my my example of the type of cloning that I feel is unacceptable. and yes it DOES matter if man interferes by use of a pipette. Yes we have been given free will but the problem lies when people use their free will and violate natural laws. they are either too greedy or too stupid to use common sense. Its about right and wrong. (ie like an adult having sex with a 6 yr old child..yes one has free will to do it but it is dead wrong). The have broken a natural law.

again this is where my defintion of "natural" disagrees with most others.

[kola]

Most virii infiltrate their host cells and swap out genetic material (RNA usually) to avoid detection or trick other cells into thinking it is benign. There are some forms of bacteria which have more advance genetic material (DNA) and do the same things. This is actually the premise by which gene therepy was developed. The only thing gene therepy does is pick which gene it is that gets swapped around.

DNA crossing from species is ALSO natural. In fact, more and more evidence is appearing as genomes are mapped that two major food crops (rice and corn) are transgenic and that ALL plants that produce flowers were created by the natural transfer of genes from one species to another. Some theorists are going as far as saying that transgenetic migration is MORE important to evolution than even mutation.

fucking with dna is as bad as it gets.

I understand viruses do their own thing but that is following their natural laws...and hybrid crosses if they happen in nature (pollen blown by wind etc) are natural. I dont want my plantst and food fucked with. Creator gave us everything we needed and "man" has done a terrible job by intervening and thinking it can be improved. Its a joke what is happenig with agriculture these days and I am not alone as more and more people are going back to the old roots of farming and raising cattle. Gods work needs no improvement. What is needed is people to has some g-damn faith in what he gave us. Stop it all now, and go back to respecting and honoring the natural laws. Everything thinks they are so damn smart and in their greedy struggle for the almighty dollar they have fucked everything up. AND almost to a point of no return. Thins wont grow and if they do they have no nutritional value. We are polluting ourselves with the very crap we are creating. When will people realize we do not need scientists and experts and moneygrubbing evildoers to "improve" things. When will it stop?

and to even think of the jerkoffs who want to clone humans (btw it is my opinion it is already being done)
   
Kola 

[ReverendRyan]