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Ending Organ Donor Shortages?

Posted by michael on from the death-penalty-for-jaywalking dept.

Tracy2112 writes "An interesting and recurring science fiction theme is the idea of black-market traffic in human body parts -- as Larry Niven termed it, "organlegging". According to this USA Today's Op-Ed piece on Yahoo, we're getting closer . . . including LifeSharers.com, , an organization working to sign up "preferred donors" who agree to preferentially donate to other LifeSharer members. Is this a great way to reward people for being generous with their unused body parts -- or a scary flashback to how early 'subscription-only' fire departments worked?"

7 of 405 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by James+A.+A.+Joyce · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Part of the problem is caused by dead people whose families don't allow the deceased's organs to be harvested, even if that person had given full legal consent for doctors to do so when they died. That does not make sense. If families have to follow the last will and testament of dead people, why is this an exception? Wouldn't these familie would be aware of this and wouldn't want to disrespect the wishes of their dead?

    --

    Bash script for FP whores

  2. Need to change the approach by Robert+Hayden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The way to encourage organ donation is to make the the default option on your driver's license instead of something you have to request. In addition, doctors shouldn't have to get permission from the family if the deceased already has an organ donor card.

    1. Re:Need to change the approach by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful
      No. While I do want to donate, and my wife is also a strong organ donation advocate, I do not want that decision to be made by agreement with the state. Under no circumstances do I want my wishes known until it's too late to save me. Many of my friends are doctors; I trust them as a whole. However, I don't even want the remote possibility of a small voice in the back of the trauma surgeon's mind saying "boy, that kid in Kansas City sure could use this liver" before the result of any lifesaving attempts is pretty certain.

      When the time comes that my death or persistant vegetative state is imminent, then my wife will give them consent - but not before.

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      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    2. Re:Need to change the approach by bobthemuse · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is a common attitude, but from several years of working on an ambulance and speaking with ER docs, I believe it to be wrong.

      The only time your organs can be harvested is if you have zero chance of recovery (brain missing, etc..) or in rare circumstances when you have a living will which authorized the termination of life support.

      If anything, carrying a donor card would keep you alive longer (in an odd way), as the EMTs will continue CPR and other life-saving techniques when they ordinarily wouldn't in order to keep your transplantable organs from sustaining further damage.

  3. Careful of the unintended consequences by daveo0331 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there's a market for organs, and criminals sentenced to the death penalty are required to donate them, you now have an industry that profits from having more capital punishment. They might then lobby the government to expand the death penalty for the same reason a defense contractor might lobby for military expansion or a private prison industry might oppose legalizing marijuana. Scary thought.

    That said, death row inmates should be allowed to donate organs if they choose to. I just don't want it to be in some corporation's financial interest to expand the death penalty.

    --
    Remember the days when Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility?
  4. Not a registered organ donor? Then no transplant! by BigBlockMopar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because hospitals are too afraid of being sued by the families if they take the organs anyway. Personally, I think it's disgusting that a family would ignore a person's request like that, and that our legal system is screwed up enough that a lawsuit would probably prevail in such a case...

    How about this:

    If you want to be eligible to receive transplanted organs should you ever need them, you must be a registered organ donor.

    Otherwise, too bad.

    This way, you encourage people to register as organ donors (as I have, for example) *and* you cut down on the leeches. If someone has a religious or other dumbass objection to donating organs, then how is it fair for them to be able to receive them while other people who are willing to contribute to the system die on waiting lists?

    It's just like any peer-to-peer filesharing system: if you want to download, you really have to share for the system to work.

    --
    Fire and Meat. Yummy.
  5. Re:Not a registered organ donor? Then no transplan by WTFmonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only problem with this is people who can't register as donors, like people with communicable diseases, etc. Otherwise, it's an awesome idea.