A Big Problem with Organ Donation

[Courtneyjo]

Good Lord do you know how many people who die waiting for a transplant? There aren’t even close to enough available, you really think there just going to send it off to the lab to experiment on?

As was stated in the article, the man’s organs were deemed unfit for transplant. No, I don’t think that fit organs will be just sent off to a lab for research. But yes, it appears that organs unfit for transplant very well will be, and the Court in Washington State has ruled that this is legal.

“The ruling means that the choice offered by the state Licensing Department, which signs up the vast majority of Washington’s organ donors, is now between allowing the use of body parts for research as well as for transplants and refusing to donate organs for either purpose, spokesman Bradley A. Benfield said.”

 

[Courtneyjo]

With so many people waiting for organs, I think it is a shame that people fear-monger.

As far as organs being used for research, how do you think medical science has gotten to where it is today? Heart attack? Stroke? Cancer? Thank people who have donated their bodies for the monumental treatment programs we have today. Besides, it’s not like we NEED our body after we die!

My father has specifically specified that his entire body is to be donated for medical research after he dies. I think that is quite admirable. I myself am an organ donor. I won’t be needing any parts!

This is an issue of informed consent. I quote:

“Within a few months, LifeCenter Northwest and the state agency will institute a “kickback” letter campaign so that anyone who enrolls as an organ donor will receive a follow-up letter listing options such as transplant only, research only or both, officials said.”

Is the agency that handles this for the State fear-mongering?

Your father-in-law has consented (“specifically specified”) to donate his entire body for medical research. The drivers in this state who have checked the box on their licenses now also will need to do the same: choose transplant only, choose research only (as it sounds like your father-in-law has done), or choose both. Folks deserve to know this. Right now they don’t, and the default is “both.” The only choice right now is “both.”

This is not anti-life. This is not fear-mongering. This is reading the fine print and knowing what you’re really agreeing to.

 

[Suat]

Organ donors in this state were unaware that their organs may end up in the hands of medical researchers. This has enormous implications. Imagine a woman donor’s ovaries being used for research…

If the medical doctors find that my organs are not suitable for donations after they have been removed, then I do hope that they can send them to a research lab for experimentation rather than putting them back into my dead body or throwing them away. In that case, while I may not be able to prolong another persons life by giving them viable organs, the research that is done on my non-transplantable organs may lead to better treatments in the future. Once I am dead, I have no use for the organs. If they can save a future life by doing experimentation then I am all for it.

 

[Courtneyjo]

That is very admirable. Then you would check the “both” box–transplantation and research.

I, for one, shudder at the thought of research being done on my reproductive organs. I said “research”, not “transplantation.” Don’t think that it wouldn’t happen. There is no opting out for specific organs if “research” or “both” is chosen.

A decade ago my job involved reading medical literature in depth. Imagine the horror of reading that the ovaries of aborted female babies were being used as a source of immature eggs for research. The research involved artificially maturing the eggs so that they could be used for embryonic stem cells.

 

[mesquite_magic]

If the medical doctors find that my organs are not suitable for donations after they have been removed, then I do hope that they can send them to a research lab for experimentation rather than putting them back into my dead body or throwing them away. In that case, while I may not be able to prolong another persons life by giving them viable organs, the research that is done on my non-transplantable organs may lead to better treatments in the future. Once I am dead, I have no use for the organs. If they can save a future life by doing experimentation then I am all for it.

I agree 100%. After I die it’s all worm meat anyway. Why not give it up for research?

Kim

 

[Sandi]

Is it even possibe to transplant a brain

No, and it’s too bad because a lot of people need them.

 

[Fidelia]

Is it even possibe to transplant a brain

No, and it’s too bad because a lot of people need them.

I concur