Opt-Out Organ Donation

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midori said:
Sure. I know people who had aneuryisms and lived. I know people who had motorcycle accidents and died. They were organ donors and were kept on life support long enough to harvest their organs, but even though their body was artificially alive, “they” were not there anymore. I want to say that particular motorcycle fatality that I’m thinking about benefited about 23 different people.

But there’s nowhere on the form that says, “Okay, under these circumstances, I think I’ll be too far gone, so go ahead and help yourselves; but under those circumstances, I’d really like to have a fighting chance to come back.”

Because statistically, how many of us die from something like head trauma or an aneurysm? It’s like, 1% of the population. Now compare that to how many people die of something like failure of the heart/the circulation/the respiratory system? And you know how fast organs deteriorate under those circumstances.
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Sure, ergo part of the debate.

Those 1% situations occur in everything and we have to make calls as to whether they’re egregious enough to damn the whole situation that gives rise to them.

The fact that very real good comes about as a result makes the decision that much more difficult (or easy) for some.
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I think that would be “tacit consent” whereas the Catechism says “explicit consent.” The Scottish bishops opposed proposals for opt-out donation on these grounds when it came up there. I’m not sure if it has been addressed elsehwere.

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Scottish bishops oppose 'opt-out' system for presumed consent to organ donation | News Headlines

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JanetF said:
But she just didn’t realize that some of her organs might still be useful…
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I’d say she gave an ambiguous answer…that is, not “I won’t give them” but “who would want them”?
 
Cruciferi said:
I’m not an organ donor. When I depart, my family will decide what should be done. There’s no way I’m gonna have a doctor hovering around waiting to scoop my interior clean. Everyone is in such a rush!
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The problem is that most of the time the family wants to do what the deceased would want them to do, but when you’re dead they can’t know, can they?
Talk to your family now, make a decision now, do the work to make the arrangements now, and if you just want to do what they want to do, then tell them to come to you if they change their minds. These decisions are reversible.
Don’t leave decisions about your estate and the disposition of your body to your relatives. That is not kind. Consult them if you see fit, but make the decisions and the arrangements and do as much of the work involved as possible yourself rather than imposing all that on them. It is the charitable thing to do, and I assure you that whoever outlives you and has the job of executing your plans will thank you for your concern.
 
At this point I’m single. So, I really haven’t been thinking about it.
 
Even more reason, let your parents and siblings know your wishes now (and while you are at it, pick out your Funeral Mass readings/songs and have them on file with your parishioner record).
 
Concerning brain death, it is my professional opinion as a health physicist that a person should be declared brain dead if and only if a radio-fluoroglucose PET Scan shows no metabolism in the brain.
 
Cruciferi said:
At this point I’m single. So, I really haven’t been thinking about it.
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That is entirely normal, but do your parents or whoever is going to get stuck with this decision (if worst comes to worst) a big favor and ask them what kind of arrangements they would like you to make.
You will also want to have your papers in order and inform whoever you think would be the one paying your bills if you were in a coma for a month how to keep your affairs in order or to put you to rest. It isn’t fun to think about, but it is thoughtful to keep your affairs in order in case someone has to take them over on short notice.
Even if you decide you do not want to be an organ donor or that your mom couldn’t stand for you to be a donor, make a decision. The less you leave on your parents plate if you die or are on the edge of death, the better.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
Even more reason, let your parents and siblings know your wishes now (and while you are at it, pick out your Funeral Mass readings/songs and have them on file with your parishioner record).
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Having to plan a funeral for one’s child is such a horrible thing for a parent to have to do. It doesn’t take a lot for the adult child to make these arrangements, but it is a good thing to do for your parents during what will be the worst thing they ever had to go through. This goes double for whether or not to make an organ donation. They’ll probably want to do it, because so many parents are so pleased that someone else’s loved one could live in spite of what they’re going through, but it would be a comfort to know the generosity was ultimately their son’s and not a decision they imposed on him without being able to get his consent or even ever talking about it.
 
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When you’ve sat and watched families worry about “I don’t know what readings she would have wanted” and “Did she love or hate that song”? you would not hesitate to plan your Mass way ahead of time.
 
TheLittleLady said:
When you’ve sat and watched families worry about “I don’t know what readings she would have wanted” and “Did she love or hate that song”? you would not hesitate to plan your Mass way ahead of time.
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It also saves any arguments between those in the family with definite opinions and very frayed emotions.
If you are the one who leaves the list of who to ask to be pallbearers and do the readings and so on, the person those who don’t like the arrangments will have a bone to pick with will be safely ensconsed 6 feet under.
 
Cruciferi said:
let your parents and siblings know your wishes now

We have an understanding.

TheLittleLady:

and while you are at it, pick out your Funeral Mass readings/songs and have them on file with your parishioner record).

Eh, no thanks :man_shrugging:t2:
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If you’ve talked to them and there is an understanding, I’d say you are good for the time being. If they want to know, they’ll say so when you bring the matter up. If they don’t want to think about it and tell you not to worry about it, then they would not getting anything dumped on them that they didn’t ask for.
Do tell them your thoughts on organ donation when the issue comes up. (In our state, it would be at the time we renew our drivers’ licenses, because there is a note on the drivers license about whether the driver is a donor or not.) Then make a decision and register it. It can save a life to have that decision ready when the time comes. There are states that allow the family to veto organ donations–probably most do, because they do not want to pick any public fights with grieving parents–so it makes sense to talk to whoever will have the right to dispose of your body.
 
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My Final Will & Testament

I Cruciferi being of sound mind and body have willed that my entire estate be liquidated and the money be given back to the United States Government.
 
Cruciferi said:
I Cruciferi being of sound mind and body have willed that my entire estate be liquidated and the money be given back to the United States Government.
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Better write that down, or your parents may get a few dollars of it, LOL.
 
It may be interesting to contrast the explicit consent required for organ donation with the presumed consent allowed for appropriation of property (according to the Universal Destination of Goods):
(CCC) 2408 The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another’s property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing…) is to put at one’s disposal and use the property of others.
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Without studying the matter deeply, I guess that the difference has to do with the dignity of the human person, both body and soul. Property is different, not having dignity or rights of its own.
 
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