Woman’s Waking After Brain Death Raises Many Questions About Organ Donation | Catholic Exchange
This article at Catholic Exchange is on my "must discuss with my husband the ER doctor" list. I'm a huge advocate of organ donation and a regular blood donor, so the article's title intrigued me. I remember a few years ago being involved in a very passionate discussion on this very topic in a social setting. My fellow conversationalist, ardently anti-organ donation, argued that he didn't want his life endangered by overzealous doctors looking to retrieve his organs. I discounted his ideas, but this article has me thinking twice.
Are you an organ donor? Why, or why not? To me, it's always seemed like a slam dunk decision - maybe not!
This article at Catholic Exchange is on my "must discuss with my husband the ER doctor" list. I'm a huge advocate of organ donation and a regular blood donor, so the article's title intrigued me. I remember a few years ago being involved in a very passionate discussion on this very topic in a social setting. My fellow conversationalist, ardently anti-organ donation, argued that he didn't want his life endangered by overzealous doctors looking to retrieve his organs. I discounted his ideas, but this article has me thinking twice.
Are you an organ donor? Why, or why not? To me, it's always seemed like a slam dunk decision - maybe not!
3 comments:
Over half of the 99,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. Over 6,000 of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a result.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
Most definitely, you should be an organ donor! It's such an easy, sefless way to help save the lives of others.
Before making any decisions on the topic, I suggest reading through the articles at lifesitesnews.com on the issue. Articles on organ donation. As a general concept, organ donation is a wonderful last gift. The problem is that increasingly, there are forces pushing to take organs from people who 'aren't quite dead yet'.
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