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Ending Organ Donor Shortages?
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?"
This seems like a good idea to me, except for one or two potential problems.
What if people wanted to leave the list? Would they have to return thier organs? If not, people could join if they needed organs, get the organs, then quit. Saying 'you can't join the list if you already need an organ' wouldn't be a very good rule, but 'you can't leave the list' wouldn't be too hot either.
Also, if organs were only availiable to donors, people whose religion said 'no donating' might not be able to get organs. Of course, a religion which allowed people to recieve organs but not give them would be a bit hypocritical.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
I think it's Hawaii that rewards organ donors with preferred placement on the organ priority list.
If your talking about execution, there are problems with organ donations from death row inmates. In most states lethal injection is the preferred method, the chemicals used in this process however are so powerful that they render all the organs useless, same with gas chambers. Old sparky also destroys organs pretty effectivly. I do remember hearing about one guy who chose the firing squad so his organs (asiddes from the heart and probably a lung then) could be harvested.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I have a friend who's wife is a nurse in an emergency room. She talked me out of being an organ donor on my driver's license for this very reason.
It's not a case of doctors being 'evil', simply that if there's incentive for you to be dead, they might be pushed to make that decision about you while you still have a chance of 'coming back'.
She said you can put that kind of thing in your will. I haven't done that, but I guess I'm more worried about keeping me alive than someone else.
/.: why the hell am I here?
Part of the problem is also that people don't usually know that there are some organs and tissues which you can safely donate while still living. Bone marrow, for one thing, is a very safe tissue to give up--of course, it's so safe to give up a small amount of it that there's usually no trouble finding a familial match when the time comes. But living kidney donation is a viable option, and kidneys are needed by non-familial recipients all the time. Kidneys from living donors also "take" much better statistically than cadaveric kidneys.
:-) But the fact that I drink a vast quantity of fluid each and every day has me scared that my remaining kidney wouldn't like it very much...
Of course, living kidney donation does involve some relatively small risks and slightly increased possibility that you'd need a kidney transplant of your own eventually, but the statistical increses are minimal. Personally, I've considered becoming a living kidney donor--gotta be great for the karma.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
If it makes you feel any better, that's not official policy.
To be honest, I think very, very few octors would entertain the idea of letting you die so your organs could be transplanted. Even if a tiny percentage have thought this without being repulsed by the clear violation of medical ethics, the chances of a doctor acting on those thoughts is even more miniscule. I suspect the chances of your wife being unavailiable are markedly higher than the chances of you being killed for your organs. If I were you, I'd just carry an organ donor card - let them get 'em while they're fresh.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
Everybody has something that somebody else can use, so anybody can join LifeSharers, no matter how sick you are. Most people who can't donate organs can donate corneas, tissue, etc. Join LifeSharers at http://www.lifesharers.com/enroll.htm. It's free. It could save your life.
My question is... what about kids? At what age do we decide that they can make their own decisions about transplants? Can their parents decide for them? There was a young (I think 5-year-old) boy around here who just had a heart transplant recently. Would it have been ethical to deny him that heart because he's not of age to decide to donate?
As good as an organ-sharing system may sound, I think that the only way organ donations will increase is if someone works out an incentive plan. Given how few people think that something bad might happen to them, how likely is this group to make much of a difference?
Besides, personally, I have a hard time with giving organs preferentially to altruistic people. They should go to the ones who need them the most, no matter how appealing it might be to reserve them for other nice folks.
As for religious objections to organ donation... I don't know of any religions that believe you should refuse to donate organs but that will happily allow acceptance of them, so these people are hardly abusing the system - no matter how "dumbass" you think their beliefs are.
~ Leilah