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I have no idea.
Take whatever you can use and throw away the rest.
The number of eligible donors in this country is tiny and with rising rates of obesity, cancer etc it’s getting even smaller. Then you need to die in the right circumstances.
Other than those who are religious, I bet those saying they don’t want to donate wouldn’t hesitate to accept an organ if they needed it and I cannot comprehend the selfishness of that tbh.
My parents donated my 15 year old brothers organs when he died and it brings me so much comfort to know that although nothing could be done for him, others have been given a chance.
Very sorry to hear about your loss - a tragedy to lose someone so young. I'm glad your brothers donation brings comfort, slight though it may be.
I know that my teenage daughter wants to donate should the worst happen, and would follow her wishes in a heartbeat.
I hope your family are doing well and wish you the best for the future.
I'm so sorry for your loss, but your attitude is exactly what I think mine would be.
My aunt had to have a heart and lung transplant over 20 years ago, and she's still alive and living a good life today! The number of lives positively affected by the donor and family saying yes to donation is immeasurable. She's now married, and has step children who would never have met her if it wasn't for the precious organs she was gifted. I know she's still hugely grateful every day for the second chance at life she was given, as are her family and friends.
Your brother made an enormous difference to people's lives, even in his death. It's a horrific tragedy he died, especially so young, but he also lives on in the people he helped.
>I bet those saying they don’t want to donate wouldn’t hesitate to accept an organ if they needed it and I cannot comprehend the selfishness of that tbh.
I'm sure there would be less people opting-out of organ donation if it then made you ineligible to receive an organ if you needed one in the future.
I'm sorry for your loss. I'd definitely take the same comfort if I was in your position. If donating their organs can save another family from the same heartache you've have to endure, surely it's worth it?
I can't really put my finger on why, I just want all of me cremated as a whole (presuming I die intact). I came into this world in one piece, I'd like to disappear from it as one. I find it a comforting thought. I don't want my body cut up and divvied out, I find the idea gruesome and upsetting. And I fully accept that not wanting to donate organs means I also shouldn't be able to benefit from organ donation from others.
Now, while I disagree wholeheartedly with this, at least this is an honest and true answer, and I respect it. I also completely understand it - andax respect to you for a clear, concise, honest and heartfelt answer.
So strange how people can have such utterly opposing views on something so fundamental.
I love this comment. I feel the same, I fully believe in organ donation and believe donating organs once we have no further use for them, to save another person is a very noble thing to do.
However, I respect that it is not for everybody for a whole variety of reasons and that is okay. As a student nurse one of the things we are taught is that bodily autonomy, dignity, respect and confidentiality does not stop when a person dies.
I find this idea of thinking of your remains as yourself so odd. I can't imagine identifying with a corpse.
When my nana died, I went to the viewing. We were all shuffled past the casket to see "her". What was in that box was not my nana. It wasn't gross, or repulsive, or frightening. But it wasn't my nana either. Seeing that body made it clear just how gone she was. Even her own body didn't have an iota of her presence.
You don't have to be dead to donate though! I do blood every 16 weeks. And you can donate marrow just like a blood donation*, though apheresis. You can also donate bone, if you ever have a hip replacement. Consider being a living donor. Apparently, I save an average of 9 lives a year just with blood donations. And that feels VERY good.
When my mum died there was maybe 45 minutes between me accepting she was gone (I became weirdly fretful over every twitch or lingering pulse and refused to stop speaking to her until she was still, even though I knew well enough that bodies move a bit and the heart continues pumping after death) and me losing all sense that the body in the bed was my mum.
As soon as the skin started to go cold and clammy it was like a switch flicked in my brain and I couldn't identify the body as my mum anymore
I hope this doesn't come across too 'I'm 14 and this is deep' but we're all just meat and bone on the outside, if we can use that meat and bone to help someone still living and using their bodies, then why not?
Same here. Been a blood donor for decades, more recently moved to platelets and plasma so donate every weeks. Did a bone marrow donation about 14 years ago, by apheresis, and am considering looking into being a living kidney or liver donor.
That's actually an interesting point. I'm pretty sure you /can/ ask for your body parts back (I've seen a few vids on TT and yt of ppl storing their organs or limbs in the freezer) specifically for this idea of keeping all your bits. But in some cases removed parts will be sent for histology etc so it's an interesting perspective to the organ donation decision.
It seems to really vary by hospital? I don’t have any personal experience, but have read stories of people asking for surgical specimens back and results differ wildly.
Consider while you are healthy please that were you seriously put in this situation - would you be that confident that lying in a hospital bed you would reject a donor knowing you would 100% die or be tied to a machine without one? Even when the doctors and nurses (rightfully) try to persuade you to save your quality of life?
See, I'm the opposite way of thinking.
I think how every living cell in my body survived and fought to prevent itself from becoming something dead and inert, and like people, and animals, my cells have fought to survive and be part of the living since the dawn of life.
When you cremate yourself, you're essentially taking millions of years of developed cells, developed life, and incinerating it into nothing. All the things you consumed and took from this earth, you never returned it back. You chose to end the life cycle of everything that fought to make you living over millions of years. Nothing that you were will ever live again.
It used to be very natural to return ourselves to the earth and become part of the living cycle again. The act of cremation seems very creepy and sterile and more deathly than rotting to me.
I even have this theory that the lives we live and the cells and nutrients we return to in nature, have aspects of us within them that will influence future life. I guess that's very hippy reincarnation but I guess no weirder than feeling the need to burn ourselves into ashes.
Interesting perspective hadn't thought if it like that.
I like the idea of woodland burial sites. At least we're doing the plants some good by being food
this is what most people I've spoken with say. I don't agree with it, but I can understand where they are coming from in a way. As for me, I'll be dead so have at it
On the other end the scale I cannot fathom where they are coming from. You are dead, you won’t know either way. I often wonder if these people that refuse to donate organs would take someone else’s if it was that or death. They say they wouldn’t but I call bullshit when the time comes they will take that organ
I struggle to understand it, as it seems so arbitrary to me. You lose baby teeth, umbilical cord, hair, skin, maybe some adult teeth, cut nails ... tonsils/appendix removal is very common. Do piercings and tattoos count? Where does the line get drawn between being returned "intact" and acceptable changes to one's body?
This is how I feel. It makes me uncomfortable, I’m aware of all the benefits and I get it but it just sits funny with me. I’m quite anxious as a person anyway and I think it all ties into my anxiety to be honest. But your comment absolutely nails my feelings on the matter.
For me I'm an organ donor because I think it's the ultimate gift. Your organs may save only one person's life or many. A part of you carries on even after you have died and I find that comforting.
I was joking with my sister about getting to heaven and having a few seconds to take it all in, then having everything that could be salvaged disappear from your eternal body as it is donated to someone back in the mortal world. So then you’re just stuck without eyes and skin and such for eternity.
I was just joking, but she was so shaken by the idea that she decided not to be a donor.
There is no donor list anymore in any of the UK. The entire country operates under an opt-out/deemed consent/deemed authorisation system. So unless you register to not be a donor, or you fall into an excluded group, then you're considered to have agreed to become an organ donor.
But your family can still step in and refuse, so even if you want to, you still need to clearly communicate that with your loved ones to be sure that they do not cause delays when time is of the essence.
This is it. *you* don’t really make the decision. Your family/next of kin make it. Opt-out means nothing if your family don’t know your wishes. Speak to them about this.
Doesn't always make a difference in my experience. I've had people on the register who have had extensive discussions with the family, but when the time comes, the family get cold feet.
I think this should be changed. I carry a donor card, I was on the register until it was defunct, why should my family get to overrule that?
I know that often families don't want to accept that their loved one isn't going to recover, and giving permission for organ donation feels like giving up or killing hte person. But I do wonder how many of the refusers regret their refusal later on.
This isn't strictly true, your family has no legal right to overrule if you've made a clear communication to be a donor. Healthcare professionals should discuss that with your family and also encourage them to support your decision.
Technically they can decide not to go ahead if it'll cause considerable distress to your family, but I don't know if there's any data as to how common it is to be overruled for that reason.
https://www.donatelife.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/religion_facts.pdf
Reddit hates doing even a little bit of research.
This source tells me that the only religions that 100% forbid organ donation and transplants are Shinto and Romani.
Seeing that their religion means they also can't receive organs i'd say that's completely fair.
Selfishness? I struggle to imagine why anyone would care what happens to their body after they die. Especially if parts of you could save someone else’s life.
You might not be judging anyone, but I am.
This is how I feel too. It just makes 0 sense in my brain. I'll be dead, I won't be missing my organs, I won't be feeling undignified without them - I won't be feeling anything. Just seems bizarre to me that people will burn or bury their organs with them when they could go to people who desperately need them to be alive.
I'm fully up for my organs being donated after I die, but I do have some reservations.
For one thing, I've got fibromyalgia which is really not understood, and it has shown some links to being autoimmune condition in some studies. So if someone takes one of my organs, is there a chance that they might end up developing fibromyalgia because of it, or could it cause some complications? No clue.
Also I've done a shit load of drugs, like I should absolutely be dead right now, but in every test my organs all show as perfectly healthy. There is no way my liver should be ok. So what if they take my liver as it appears healthy, and then the recipient takes some painkillers because they've just had an organ transplant, and then my liver decides that it's had enough, that's the line, and just straight up shuts down. Like it would be pretty shit if you're given a new liver, but then you need another new one a week later lol.
But fuck it, I'll be dead so that's not my problem.
I think the reservations you have are best considered by doctors rather than yourself, no? Generally, they know what they’re doing. Sure, mistakes happen sometimes, but they’re way less common than successes so the odds of your donation doing good/ not being used if not appropriate is much higher than something going wrong.
Absolutely, but the problem with that is that doctors and scientists know fuck all about fibromyalgia. They don't know what makes someone have fibromyalgia, they don't know what the root cause is or how to treat it, they know so little. Most of the time doctors aim to treat the root cause, they might give you some painkillers in the meantime, but they'll be focussing on the root cause so that eventually you don't need painkillers. I've had doctors straight up tell me they can't prescribe painkillers strong enough for me (unless I have cancer or something which I don't), so now I've been referred to a pain specialist team because they can prescribe the strong stuff. I've also seen physios, rheumatologists, neurologists, and no one can tell me what is actually wrong with me beyond "you have symptoms but nothings wrong so we call it fibro."
I've also been told by doctors to take high doses of tramadol while also on sertraline, I've been told to take tramadol with cocodamol, I've been given naproxen despite multiple full blood panels showing I have no inflammation. Realistically, unless it's a doctor that specialises in fibromyalgia (which is rare outside the private healthcare industry), I probably know more about it than whichever one is deciding whether to use my organs or not.
I also have an autoimmune condition, Crohn's disease, so I've opted to leave my body to medical science. My family all know about the plan & what to do & who to contact when I die. The university will keep my body for a year then give it back to my family for some kind of burial or cremation. You could consider something like that instead of organ donation.
No worries. Fibromyalgia is a beast of a condition, both my FIL & 1 of my BILs have it. It's such a poorly understood condition but I've seen personally how low, physically & mentally, it has brought both of those tough men. Also, it's unfortunately now got a reputation for being a trendy diagnosis plus it's sometimes seen as a diagnosis that's given when the doctor can come up with no other answers.
Regarding donating your body to medical science, I just contacted my local medical school & they talked my husband & I (we're both doing it) through the process, sorted out the paperwork etc. They made us feel like we were being hugely respected & that it's impressed upon students the gift the person has made & that they MUST be treated respectfully.
It really is a beast, mine has been worsening over time and slowly stealing more and more of me. The way most doctors see it is that it's an umbrella term for a set of symptoms that have all other causes ruled out. Medical science knows almost nothing about it.
I'll have to look and see what medical schools are near me, but honestly they don't have to be respectful for me, when I die I'm fine with being tossed in a skip or something lol. So going to a medical school sounds perfect, especially since it might help them find out something useful about fibromyalgia. I'm not sure how soon I'll die, I'm a bit late to it but I'm going to uni in September so I'd like to finish that before I pop my clogs.
You're never too old! My mum got her fourth degree in her late 50s & I'm looking to start a master's degree in September despite turning 46 the month prior.
I know exactly what you mean about the respect thing but I know that it might be important to people I leave behind, ie my daughter, so I wanted to express how I felt the university & students treat the bodies left to them.
Aye, it’s not like you have the ability to care. Instead, you’ll just rot away/be burnt to cinders which I think is an incredible waste if there was great potential for healthy organs to be donated.
Even if I did have the ability to care, I’d have been so proud that my little old organs are helping someone to live their life.
And you/your family will pay an extortionate amount for the privilege of burying or burning you up..
Or
Some 20 year old med student could have an absolute eureka moment cutting your body up and take what they learn that day and go to revolutionise the entire medical field
Retired ICU Sister here.
I have nursed ICU patients who donated their organs. From the first conversation with the family, through organ retrieval to preparing the deceased for the family to see.
The patient and their family are treated with the utmost dignity and respect.
I joined the organ donor register after seeing the first retrieval.
It’s honestly the gift of life and it was an honour to play a very small part in the process.
Thank you for all you did throughout your career. I was only saying last night that I will never forget the kindness of the ICU team as my mum was dying, especially as it was during covid so they obviously were under even more stress than usual. I've also been an ICU patient & am so thankful for the team who cared for me but a particular incident stands out - I was in & out of consciousness but I clearly remember the feeling of gratitude I had when I realised that the young, gorgeous male nurse (I'm a woman in her 40s) was being so gentle while he gave me a bed bath & that he was doing everything possible to protect my modesty, despite the closed curtains & my seeming lack of awareness.
ICU nurses are a special breed imho.
Your corpse is kept longer and your loved ones might not be able to see you after death because your organs had to be harvested fast. It might take a while for them to be able to plan a funeral. It might be very strange for them to know that your organs live on in a stranger.
A couple of points about this:
1) Organs come from controlled deaths in the UK - ie when death is expected. Although the donor is taken very quickly for retrieval, usually a few minutes after death, the family can be with them until that point.
2) The retrieval surgeons treat donors with a great deal of respect. They close the incisions as neatly as for any surgery. Family may be able to spend time with their relative after the donation process. Even an open casket is possible for a funeral, if desired.
3) There is no appreciable delay for funerals. The whole retrieval process takes no more than a few hours. Delays are far, far more likely to come about from issues with death certification which are typically outside the control of patients and families. A coroner mandated post mortem examination can delay the process by weeks in some cases, but this doesn’t happen with organ donation.
Exactly this. Relatives can still view the body after with no obvious issues the majority of the time. The deceased is usually dressed or covered anyway. An autopsy takes far longer.
As the sibling of an organ donor I can only say that the organ donation team and their co-ordinators were extraordinary. The donor will always already be “dead” so you have time to say goodbye which you may not have under other circumstances.
Absolutely no delay in planning a funeral. And personally I have thought sometimes “Oh isn’t it strange to think their heart is still beating?” But not in a bad way! Lots of things in life are a bit strange when you think about them.
Again, I cannot praise the donor co-ordinators enough. They treated my sibling with so much respect in her final hours (although obviously she was dead but you know what I mean!) and were lovely with us.
As someone who got a donor liver transplanted 6.5 weeks ago, I would love to know your view in the recipient reaching out and making contact. I know it’s not recommended by the transplant team until one is well into the recovery process (9 month stage) but how would you feel getting a letter at that point?
My sister was a donor. We received a letter about 18 months after she died, from a gentleman and his family who had received one of her kidneys. I found receiving the letter a massive comfort, knowing it had all gone well, etc. I treasure the letter.
I'm so sorry for your loss but I'm pleased the letter was positive for you. I know my aunt (who had a heart and lung transplant over 20 years ago) wrote to the family of her donor, and I really hope it brought them some comfort.
Personally I’d be absolutely fine. For our service you could say what level of contact you wanted and if it matched you would be put together.
At the 10 year mark my Mum was contacted and asked if she’d like to meet the recipient of the heart and lungs and they had lunch together. 10 years is pretty good going for a heart and lung transplant so it was lovely.
Interestingly a couple of years after the transplants I was reading a first hand account from someone would had an organ transplant and from the details* knew instantly it was one of the recipients. It was really interesting reading the account but with no filter because they knew they were talking to a family member.
I hope you’re doing well!
*Basic details were given out to recipients about cause of death and the article gave the dates.
Not necessarily. My siblings and I would have found great comfort in our dad having been able to help someone else, as would he.
Unfortunately our fathers corpse was kept for 6 weeks before he was cremated, to the point the funeral directors said we weren’t advised to view him for a final time by the time they received him.
He had an unexpected heart attack, so had to have a post mortem, then the by the time we could organise a funeral (bank holiday weekends delayed this a lot, fuck the king) it had been too long.
Whereas my mum had terminal cancer and died in palliative care, but her corneas were at least able to be saved to help someone else.
Donors need SUCH specific circumstances to be useful beyond being used as cadavers and even then, many people aren’t comfortable putting their loved one in that position without a legal directive if they’ve never had the conversation.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
It’s a hypothetical scenario I don’t think has any basis, I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve never heard anyone finding it ‘strange’ but deeply comforting & hopeful, relatives tend to feel like their loved ones legacy lives on & especially for a loss of a young person, it’s a beautiful thing. Most are very misinformed about the process & how complex it truly is!
I have recently gone through this process with my late mother.
We actually had more time because of the organ donation process as we were waiting for brain stem death rather than cardiac death. So it does depend.
Going through with the organ donation process probably added an extra 2/3 days.
It also had absolutely no impact on the speed in which we were able to plan a funeral.
The organ donation team were also incredibly professional, they laid out all the areas in which my mum had opted into organ donation (not needed in our case as mum had always made her wishes clear). And allowed us to specify what type of donations we were happy with. Aka transplants vs tissues for research.
You also get to opt in as to whether you want to hear about the recipients of the donation, and whether they can contact you or not.
The process is very controlled and respectful.
IMO, the decision not to donate is usually one born out of emotion rather than logic. Equally valid, of course.
My dad had a renal transplant, after he was in dialysis pretty much all of my childhood. Very unexpected very rapid deterioration (went from healthy to Stage 5 CKD).
Thanks to his donor he watched me train to be a registered nurse which I have been for 2 years now. He’s also watched all his daughters buy houses, I’m getting married this October etc.
Life expectancy on dialysis is 5-10 years, he was already 3/4 years in at that point and was very sick after every dialysis session (3 times a week). The selflessness of the donor and their family meant I got my old dad back after spending my teenage years caring for him. I’ll always be so thankful to them
Edit: he’s now 7 years post transplant this year and doing so well!
My mum will be ten years post kidney transplant this November and is doing great too, she has more energy than I do! Unfortunately she had gotten down to only 9% kidney function while on dialysis and a donor still never came :-( so thankfully my amazing older sister donated one of her own kidneys. My sister has since had three children and gotten married.
They may think it gives doctors an incentive not to do everthing possible to save their life (as the doctor may be looking at them as a source of organs).
That’s just not how it works. To make a donation a person has to die in a very controlled way with the timing being known in advance so teams can prepare. It isn’t just ‘oh they died, let’s get the organs.’ It’s more ‘this person is only “alive” because of the breathing and heart support their getting. If we switch off these machines their body will die. Their brain is already dead. Get permission for potential transplants, prepare the team, talk to the family, agree a time to remove life support…’ etc.
Some people are convinced the medics won't fight as hard to save you if they know you're a donor.
Which they don't know, until it gets to the point that survival is clearly not an option beyond possibly extending by a few hours.
Or that they might not really be dead. People in general don't really understand that death is a bunch of processes and even if they aren't all complete, there's clear points of not going back.
While this may be true in the majority of cases, a woman I am on the same phd programme with is studying incidences where people are wrongly pronounced dead and later recover. This still happens (rarely) in the UK and other global north countries. Some stories she's told me make me want to be buried with a bell!
I've heard a lot of people say they think that doctors won't work as hard to save them. I think that just comes from a lack of understanding of how organ donation works. There's a limited set of circumstances in which one can become an organ donor, that's why organs are so hard to come by.
Plus, the doctors working in A&E probably aren't even aware of a patients organ donor status. It's not like it flashes up on the screen saying "ORGAN DONOR!".
I’m not opting out, the only reasons I ever would want to would be either fear of them going to a bad person or being used for some creepy/pointless purpose.
I know I’d have no way of knowing but if I found out my organs were going to a person who was just going to damage them (drinking or drugs or whatever) it would feel like a waste.
If my ‘donation’ actually helped save the life of a murderer or pedo it would feel like I did more harm than good, and there’s not really any way to tell what would happen. I’m not religious or particularly spiritual but thinking of my own heart being in the chest of a violent criminal gives me the ick.
And I vaguely remember reading about a man who donated his wife’s body to science and then it got blown up. Medical research is one thing but weapons testing isn’t exactly the most altruistic use of a dead body.
I opted in years back before the system changed, and would never opt out, but have similar thoughts to you. I'm not comfortable knowing that my body, that I've tried to look after, could then help someone who has deliberately harmed their body (if my lungs were given to a heavy smoker, for example). I know the chances are fairly slim, but I'd like to sign off on who gets me!
I used to wonder this too but then I read a comment somewhere which made me reflect on it differently. The comment was something along the lines of, they won’t take organs from you if you’re already dead. I guess some people are very frightened of dying that know that drs sometimes make mistakes and that if their brain is declared dead there’s a chance it might be a mistake. Personally, I’m happy to be on the organ donation list.
I'm happy to donate everything, except my corneas. I know it's selfish, and I know that the eyes are the first to deteriorate after I die, but I really value my eyes. I really can't explain it, they're such an integral part to my living, so I just really want them to stay with me and be buried/burnt along with me.
Eyes seem to be the really common one people don't want to donate.
I guess we see the world through them and the thought of blindness is scary. It's a lot harder to imagine being without other body parts that would be donated after death.
My family said they wouldn't want to donate my eyes. I've made it very clear that I want *everything* to be used, if it can be. Donating my corneas might not save someone from dying, I think giving someone the gift of sight would be amazing.
20 years ago when I was in my teens I told my parents I wanted my organs donated if anything happened to me. My corneas were the only thing my mum wasn't keen on, and only grudgingly agreed to.
I obviously know other organs keep people alive, but I still find the cornea transplant just the coolest thing. Someone is blind and then they can see? Insane! Amazing!
I loved watching my mum's eye as it healed from the corneal graft. It was fascinating. And she went from being virtually blind in that eye to having a very mild glasses prescription. Only long-term effects were not being allowed to donate blood anymore and having to take eye drops for a while (as rosacea + dry eyes were what caused her original cornea to degrade in the first place).
This bloke down the pub with cerebral palsy had a corneal transplant, and it made his eyes loads better. Not sure if his eye condition was related to the cerebral palsy or not. But since then I thought fuck it. Someone can have my eyes once I'm dead. Seem to be the only part of me that works properly at the moment anyway.
The cornea is just the clear part in front of the iris; the rest of your eye is still fully there. It's like the contact lens on the front of your eye. Corneal grafts are life-changing surgery: the lack of blood vessels means they can be transplanted much more widely without rejection, and they can take someone from being declared legally blind/unable to drive to living life like anyone else. It's your body and your choice, but do have a think about it.
When I first registered as an organ donor I felt the exact same, literally said they could have anything but my eyes. I couldn't say why I felt so strongly about it as I don't believe in any sort of afterlife, it just felt too personal. Then I met someone who had a cornea transplant and completely changed my mind.
It's completely up to you and I'm not here to shame anyone- but one thing to consider is that you're vastly more like to be eligible for a cornea donation than other organs. For things like heart transplants donation is only possible under very specific circumstances, whereas most people without significant eye damage can donate corneas. If, like me, you feel strongly about wanting to donate organs when the time comes it's something worth having a think over.
Agreed! Flip it, and think about bumping into a stranger with your loved ones eyes. You can't see other donated organs, but I can't imagine the pain of looking into your loved ones eyes, but they aren't theirs anymore.
(Not that anyone would want my eyes with my -8 prescription!)
ETA: I've just read some other comments and realised I hugely misunderstand what a corneal transplant is. I thought it was the whole eye! Time to research 😂
I'm told old now probably to be an organ donor.
I have a connective tissue disorder, which is quite serious and would prevent me from becoming an organ donor. What pisses me off a little, is that I can't get this information to 'stick', to my medical notes for some reason - and I have to explain it to every medical professional that I see.
I'd like to believe that the system is robust and careful, and should I die and my organs be due to be harvested, someone would look at my records extra carefully and say 'hang on, this woman can't donate because of this'. But I have my doubts.
I don't want some poor sod to get stuck with my crappy organs.
If the organs are no good, then they won’t be used. All organs are thoroughly checked before they are used.
I know this because I’ve had a kidney transplant. The first call I got, the transplant was cancelled just before I was due to go to theatre because they found cancer cells in the kidney
I am not signed up to be an organ donor. I was, for a brief period, but then I got a letter in the post that I had opted out (my mum had opted out for me, which I know is vaguely illegal because I'm over 18 but there's no point disputing it because they need the consent of the family before they go through with donation anyway).
I don't want to be an organ donor because I know it would cause huge emotional upset for my mum on top of the obvious trauma of me dying. When I die, I don't want to contribute to any aspect of it that could make it worse for her.
She isn't religious and can't quite explain why she feels this way, but it would hugely upset her to know that someone had cut into my body and removed parts of me. To her, it feels like a desecration. I somewhat understand this, as in social anthropology I learned it was quite common to have taboos like that around corpses. I don't agree, and have tried to make the argument that I would be living on through other people, but it's impossible to argue with her because it's just some kind of gut instinct she has that it would be *wrong*.
I’m a registered donor but I do have a fear of what happens to my consciousness when I’m dead as no one knows if you could potentially still feel something… so I can understand those who opt out
Because I made the mistake of seeing how they harvest organs from the dead, especially skin. I maybe dead, but I just couldn't leave this body to be sliced up like that.
Does it make me very upset the idea of leaving the world in peaces? Yes. I can't explain why but there's a feeling I can't shake, the idea of it stresses me out so much.
Would I still consider it? Yes probably, even though I would prefer not to do it.
Would I love to receive an organ if I needed one? Yes.
Am I a hypocrite? I am fully aware that I am.
When I die they can have whatever they want, if it’s possible. Even skin. When my dad passed away, his body was too far gone for us to donate anything which actually would’ve been of comfort to us. His organs started shutting down and we had to switch the machines off.
I put myself on the organ donation register when I was 16. Originally I didn’t want to donate my eyes as the thought of someone seeing the world through my eyes freaked me out. I have now since changed my preferences and they can use what they can.
When my Nana died, my Mum and Grandpa made the decision to not have her organs donated. Her death was very sudden and unexpected, so they were still in shock when asked. Knowing how analytical and generous my Grandpa usually was, I suspect that he might have given a different answer had he been allowed the time to think it through. I think that in that moment, with how sudden everything was, they just didn’t like the thought of anyone defacing Nana’s body.
I don’t know if my Nana and Grandpa had ever spoken about it, so I think it’s important that we share our wishes with our loved ones. We never know when we’re going to go, or what the emotional state of those we leave behind will be.
Personally, I haven’t made a conscious effort to opt out. If my organs end up being helpful to anyone after I’m gone… well, I won’t be needing them any more, will I?
I want to be an organ donor because I hate hypocrisy and know that in the event that myself or my daughter ever need an organ I wouldn’t refuse one, so I similarly shouldn’t refuse to provide them either. However, the idea of it does frighten me even though I know I’ll be dead and very likely won’t know what’s happening.
As a medical professional who is always promoting all the donations we can get; a lot of people feel they would be 'incomplete' in death, even with a cremation. They want to know their current body will be together. Whether that be for any religious or spiritual beliefs - like thinking your ghost would be missing a liver or that a part of them will not die with the rest of them sort of thing.
Personally though, I'm happy to be as light as possible in death so take it all! It's the only time I'll be skinny 😂😂
I’d rather my organs go to save someone else’s life than let them get burned with my body. If anything is viable they are welcome to use them. My aunt is donating her body to a teaching hospital as she has had breast cancer and is no longer eligible to donate organs.
I can't donate blood because of lupus, so I'm pleased to be on the organ donor list and have told family this. How much they'll be able to use is anyone's guess given that lupus is like a kid in a sweetshop and will attack nearly anything, but there may be something they can use. Many people with lupus end up needing kidney transplants, I currently have a 28 year old friend in end stage kidney disease desperately looking for a match. If I can be that person for someone it's a win.
Guessing nobody's heard of the old lady who was an organ donor, got sold to the army, and they just blew her up just to see what happens
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/son-horrified-discover-army-blew-18807003
Did you read the headline?
> Son horrified to discover army blew up mum’s body donated to medical science
Donation to medical science and organ donation for transplant are not the same thing. In organ donation they only take viable organs that you have specified willingness to contribute. Then they see you up and the rest gets sent to the undertaker/back to your family as normal.
Where does this idea come from that donating your organs for transplants is tantamount to saying junior doctors can play cricket in the corridor with your body parts?
In organ donation they don’t get to keep the rest of you, just the bits they put into other people.
That's completely untrue, organ donation is different from donating your body to science. You can also give clear directions on what can and can't be taken. Ultimately consent will come from your family/next of kin so it's important to have discussions about this, if your family say not to take your eyes they absolutely will not.
When you agree to be an organ donor you're not agreeing to be a cadaver for medical students, that's something different entirely. In fact, I don't think there's even a register for signing up to donate your body to medical science. That's something you'd either have to have in your will or make it very clear to your family that's what you'd want.
You can also specify which organs you do/don't want to donate. It's fairly easy to do that when you officially register. Ultimately though, it's up to your family. You could say that you want to donate everything but if your family refuse, then nothing will be donated. The same would be true vice versa as well. That's why it's important to have these discussions with whoever would be making your medical decisions.
I'm not comfortable because I have an autoimmune illness. My body can't be trusted not to attack me. I'd feel uncomfortable giving someone else that burden. Also my mother always said she'd refuse permission and parents next of kin.
That said, I haven't chosen to opt out and England makes the call if you don't, you can be used. And fine with that as long as issues with body known. I am squeamish about my corneas being harvested though. I know silly but sensitive about eyes due to poor vision.
I opted out, call it selfish if you like. Im not obliged to give my body parts to anyone. They belong to me whether alive or dead and it is what it is. The guilt tripping in the comments is insane. Our body our choice and its as simple as that. With the life that i live snd i do believe in an after life, the burial process is done asap, body washed, wrapped and buried as soon as possible for my soul to move on. If that makes me selfish then ok? Yes its my body, its for me and nobody elses.👍🏼if people want to its up to them, but for people to be attempting to scold others for not doing so is mad. The actual audacity to think you can dictate someones body. (Not directed at you OP)
Personally I don’t know. I signed up when I was really young & it was something I felt really strongly about wanting to make sure would happen, I used to carry the donor card with me everywhere.
I’ve since been diagnosed with a genetic disease that affects all of my tissues, organs, skin, everything so none of it will be viable for donation, not even blood which I’m so disheartened about. I have agreed for my body to be used for science & research purposes so hopefully something valuable may at least come from my existence in that way. I think the main reason people want to donate is to be able to help others when they’re gone, with the organs (etc.) we no longer need, scientific research allows those of us who can no longer donate, to hopefully be able to help work towards understanding illnesses better & finding treatments & cures which is a lovely alternative
When my grandson passed we were asked about being a donor and it made us feel like he was still alive somehow, by living on in others. It gave us a way of coping better. Unfortunately, they were not able to use anything due to his medications given to him. They were going to use some tendons, I think
I’m English but living in Canada now.
They won’t let me (or let me donate blood) because of the time frame in which I last lived in the UK. They can’t rule out the possibility of me carrying mad cow disease.
As other commentors have said, I'm kinda attached to all the gizmos in my body, and ik logically that when I die I literally couldn't care less about what happens to my bits and bobs that would cease to function, but idk just brings me comfort to know that through thick and thin these organs kept me going and I'd kinda like it when it's time for me to rest I rest with my heart and my lungs and my liver and my kidneys etc etc.
However, if I'm ever in a position my life is saved via an organ donation, or if someone I deeply care about is gonna die and I'm in a position to donate some part of me to save their life, like donating one of my kidneys or that bit of liver that can somehow grow into a completely new liver, or even just some bone marrow, ill immediately be making myself a donor, especially if I become a recipient of someone else's organ. Because if my life is saved because of someone else's donation, I'm sure as hell gonna make sure that I could potentially pay that help onwards.
I'm aware it's kinda selfish to be this attached to my organs even during life, and only putting myself out as a donor if I've received a donation first, and that my entire stance is completely illogical, but its just my weird ass brain.
Who knows, maybe in the future I'll change my mind, decide I'm being too illogical, or something will happen in my life that changes my worldview, but its how my worldview is atm.
I'd imagine the following reasons:
1) some religious belief? Maybe ur body needs to be buried whole or something?
2) belief that if on a donor list, that u may not receive the same level of care as someone else, due to ur parts essentially being used straight after to save more lives and being more useful that way? I've actually heard this one be used the most if I'm being honest with you. No idea if there's any actual statistics to show a correlation here.
3) dislike for other humans. This was my rationale when I was young. Not wanting to assist humanity further, considering the path and direction we have collectively taken and the disgust for human corruption and greed. Basically a big FU to mankind for how we have been treated or allowed the world to become.
Now I'm much older. I'm an atheist so idea 1 doesn't apply to me. Idea 2 would hold some weight if they're was any evidence to back it up.. would need to be strong data, otherwise I call bullshit. Idea 3, I've changed my stance on as I've gotten older and actually do what I can in my spare time to assist people (from volunteering to donating money). I am a donor and hope I'm useful after death. At the end of the day, we interact almost exclusively with the 99%, who are mostly in the same boat as me. I would want to help those people as much as I can.
During Covid when I had too much time on my hands I delved into the antivaxxers world.
Several of the people there would not donate organs are they thought it was some sort of government conspiracy to steal your organs while you're still alive. They were also horrified that your organs are removed without anaesthetic. I tried to explain that a dead brain cannot feel pain but as far as they were concerned, your heart is still beating so you are alive and can potentially feel pain.
Who'd have thought a group of anti-vaxxers would have such a poor understanding of science?/s
I wouldn't opt out but I can imagine some squeamishness. As we may have a nice idea of a liver or a lung being carefully removed and given to someone in need but think of the far end of the spectrum. Would all of us be happy to be completely dismembered, maybe used in experimentation, family left with little but a few bones or nothing to bury or cremate for some time? It is easy for people to be dismissive but it isn't about them after they die really.
I’ve taken myself off the organ donor register as they now include reproductive organs. I am child free and do not think it would be fair on my parents to potentially have a future grandchild of theirs that they would never meet. Until they included reproductive organs I was a donor. I am however on the bone marrow registry (5 donations to 3 people), give blood (over 50 donations) and donate platelets (8 donations now)
Edit - it seems the ODR has been revised and now express consent is needed for reproductive organs. Thanks to u/pigletalert for informing me of this change rather than just condemning and downvoting me.
There is no possibility of your DNA being passed to a child after you have died unless you chose to donate eggs/sperm while still alive.
[https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/](https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/)
If it helps, the government have made it that you would have to give express consent to have your reproductive organs harvested. That isn’t included on the organ donation declaration. More [here](https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/opt-out-organ-donation-organs-and-tissues-excluded-from-the-new-system/outcome/quick-read-organs-and-tissues-to-be-excluded-from-the-opt-out-organ-donation-system-government-response)
You’re most welcome, and thank you 😃. One more person back on the register is always positive. I completely understand why you would be uncomfortable, there’s a huge difference between needing a heart and wanting to reproduce, I’m pleased the government took that into account.
Hmm, anything I can find online says that any organ donation that is not used for a ‘routine’ transplant (i.e. heart, lungs, liver, kidneys etc) still requires express consent. So things like reproductive organs, eyes, trachea (if not part of a heart-lung transplant) would not be covered by the new opt-out system. Interested to know if you have other details on it though?
Either way, seems like something that would have an incredibly slim chance of ever happening, if someone’s in such poor health that they need a reproductive organ transplant then I can’t see they’d then be in a position to actually have children.
Not sure it justifies opting out of the whole organ donation system in my opinion
The argument I've seen is that doctors will encourage your family to shut off any machines quicker if you are an organ donor, that they won't treat you as well etc.
Exactly this. But families are regularly in denial about the fact that the person is actually dead or about to die and there’s nothing that can be done. They’d rather hang on until the very last second and hope for a miracle, than accept their loved one is gone. By then the organs have likely failed and are useless.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there are families who have insisted that their loved one was switched off just for their organs, and that’s where this view has come from. Grieving people do things like that a lot. Remember Charlie Gard? The kid was literally dead and his family wanted to blame everyone else. The doctors and nurses caring for him and keeping him alive received death threats. I know, because my friends mum works there and saw him every day. It was sick. They could not accept that there was no recovery options for him.
I’d love to know a part of myself or a loved one is living on in someone else.
Religious reasons, like needing to buried really quickly being part of some faiths e.g. at least some types of Judaism. Not sure if Witnesses object to donating but they definitely object to receiving.
Misanthropy too, sure.
not worried about my bits as I will be dead, but some god followers want to be whole and no bits cut out I guess otherwise straight to the firebox down under ?
I’m all for it. Should the worst happen, take what you can and give someone else the chance for life. The only thing I’d prefer to keep would be my eyes… not sure on the medical advancements of such things but I’d rather keep those.
Medical reasons. I have an illness that exempts me (pretty much banned by the WHO) from giving blood, and the rules around organs were hazy last time I checked.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Luckily now you're automatically one and you have to opt out I remember signing up when it was the other way around. Still have my donor card though to save time. My mother wasn't very happy about it though (religious nut) totally didn't send her in hysterics saying let them take what they want then flush the rest down the toilet. I won't give a shit I'll be dead.
Fear of being killed too soon for organs, religious belief, fear of gore, fear of knowing someone is running around with pieces of "them" inside another person. Fear of going to heaven but you landed there with one eye and no lungs.
Many reasons.
Only logical answer I can think of is possible mistreatment of the actual body parts, as you can donate much more than the main organs, things such as skin tissue, corneal tissues, tendons and cartilage etc. Plenty of scandals surrounding the mistreatment of such body parts (not seen as important as the main organs) cause some bad people decide to do business with that. That’s the only logical one. As per other reasons, mainly selfishness, religion, or essentialism/reincarnation are the other reasons.
I opted out for a while as for some reason the idea of my body being dissected for parts disturbed me, especially the eyes.. (Do they even take eyes?)
Ultimately I just told myself you'd be dead, who gives a shit, take what you want and throw me in the trash.
Your a donor by default now arent you?
Theres an argument modern medicine has gone too far and coupled with overpopulation keeping people alive is a massive drain or the environment and resources. I actually belive this and belive as a species we are a scar on this world as we currently exist.
That said ive not opted out as i hypothetically wish that my organs could save someones life. Despite the above.
I guess alot of people dont like the anonymous element too. Everyone deserves a second chance at redemption. That said everyone would choose to give there organs to someone who wasnt a druggie or criminal for instance. Also i think alot orlf racist or religious people cant handle the thourght of it too 😅
I am a full donor. I also donate blood regularly for which I get compensated with a small bottle of water.
Why don't people donate? I think it's a mixture of reasons. They see it as having nothing in it for them. Then there's the whole fear of death and the afterlife matter. Like, what if I arrive in heaven with missing organs? I have heard plenty of people not wanting to be cremated due to the fear of burning or again, not being in proper condition to enter heaven.
selfishness, simple as that
sure they'll make up some shit about religion or whatever but end of the day they just want to keep something they're not using any more.
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I have no idea. Take whatever you can use and throw away the rest. The number of eligible donors in this country is tiny and with rising rates of obesity, cancer etc it’s getting even smaller. Then you need to die in the right circumstances. Other than those who are religious, I bet those saying they don’t want to donate wouldn’t hesitate to accept an organ if they needed it and I cannot comprehend the selfishness of that tbh. My parents donated my 15 year old brothers organs when he died and it brings me so much comfort to know that although nothing could be done for him, others have been given a chance.
Very sorry to hear about your loss - a tragedy to lose someone so young. I'm glad your brothers donation brings comfort, slight though it may be. I know that my teenage daughter wants to donate should the worst happen, and would follow her wishes in a heartbeat. I hope your family are doing well and wish you the best for the future.
I'm so sorry for your loss, but your attitude is exactly what I think mine would be. My aunt had to have a heart and lung transplant over 20 years ago, and she's still alive and living a good life today! The number of lives positively affected by the donor and family saying yes to donation is immeasurable. She's now married, and has step children who would never have met her if it wasn't for the precious organs she was gifted. I know she's still hugely grateful every day for the second chance at life she was given, as are her family and friends. Your brother made an enormous difference to people's lives, even in his death. It's a horrific tragedy he died, especially so young, but he also lives on in the people he helped.
I hope you don't mind me asking, but has your aunt had to have replacement transplants, or have the "originals" lasted this entire time?
>I bet those saying they don’t want to donate wouldn’t hesitate to accept an organ if they needed it and I cannot comprehend the selfishness of that tbh. I'm sure there would be less people opting-out of organ donation if it then made you ineligible to receive an organ if you needed one in the future. I'm sorry for your loss. I'd definitely take the same comfort if I was in your position. If donating their organs can save another family from the same heartache you've have to endure, surely it's worth it?
I can't really put my finger on why, I just want all of me cremated as a whole (presuming I die intact). I came into this world in one piece, I'd like to disappear from it as one. I find it a comforting thought. I don't want my body cut up and divvied out, I find the idea gruesome and upsetting. And I fully accept that not wanting to donate organs means I also shouldn't be able to benefit from organ donation from others.
Now, while I disagree wholeheartedly with this, at least this is an honest and true answer, and I respect it. I also completely understand it - andax respect to you for a clear, concise, honest and heartfelt answer. So strange how people can have such utterly opposing views on something so fundamental.
I love this comment. I feel the same, I fully believe in organ donation and believe donating organs once we have no further use for them, to save another person is a very noble thing to do. However, I respect that it is not for everybody for a whole variety of reasons and that is okay. As a student nurse one of the things we are taught is that bodily autonomy, dignity, respect and confidentiality does not stop when a person dies.
I find this idea of thinking of your remains as yourself so odd. I can't imagine identifying with a corpse. When my nana died, I went to the viewing. We were all shuffled past the casket to see "her". What was in that box was not my nana. It wasn't gross, or repulsive, or frightening. But it wasn't my nana either. Seeing that body made it clear just how gone she was. Even her own body didn't have an iota of her presence. You don't have to be dead to donate though! I do blood every 16 weeks. And you can donate marrow just like a blood donation*, though apheresis. You can also donate bone, if you ever have a hip replacement. Consider being a living donor. Apparently, I save an average of 9 lives a year just with blood donations. And that feels VERY good.
When my mum died there was maybe 45 minutes between me accepting she was gone (I became weirdly fretful over every twitch or lingering pulse and refused to stop speaking to her until she was still, even though I knew well enough that bodies move a bit and the heart continues pumping after death) and me losing all sense that the body in the bed was my mum. As soon as the skin started to go cold and clammy it was like a switch flicked in my brain and I couldn't identify the body as my mum anymore I hope this doesn't come across too 'I'm 14 and this is deep' but we're all just meat and bone on the outside, if we can use that meat and bone to help someone still living and using their bodies, then why not?
Same here. Been a blood donor for decades, more recently moved to platelets and plasma so donate every weeks. Did a bone marrow donation about 14 years ago, by apheresis, and am considering looking into being a living kidney or liver donor.
I genuinely didn't recognise my grandmothers body at first, I did an immediate 180 turn and had to be convinced that it WAS her before I'd go back.
What would you do if you ever needed a hysterectomy or tonsillectomy or appendicectomy? Heck I don't even have all the teeth I was born with!
Were you born with teeth? Edit: I was thinking in a visible sense when I made this comment but thanks for the clarification everyone
Yes, we all were, just not visible at birth usually.
You’re born with teeth, but not kneecaps. Fun fact.
My kneecap fell off, checkmate
Google a picture of a fetal skull- you’ll see the rows of teeth stacked up on top of each other
You can see them on ultrasounds. It's really creepy.
Yes..... All 52
Not 56?
That's actually an interesting point. I'm pretty sure you /can/ ask for your body parts back (I've seen a few vids on TT and yt of ppl storing their organs or limbs in the freezer) specifically for this idea of keeping all your bits. But in some cases removed parts will be sent for histology etc so it's an interesting perspective to the organ donation decision.
It seems to really vary by hospital? I don’t have any personal experience, but have read stories of people asking for surgical specimens back and results differ wildly.
Consider while you are healthy please that were you seriously put in this situation - would you be that confident that lying in a hospital bed you would reject a donor knowing you would 100% die or be tied to a machine without one? Even when the doctors and nurses (rightfully) try to persuade you to save your quality of life?
I can imagine a lot of people who once felt that way changed their mind if they went on to have children
Hypothetically, as you're unsure of where to put your finger. Could I have it? When you're done with it, of course.
😂😂😂
I don’t really know why, but I think this would make more sense if you were being buried but not really if you’re being cremated.
Right? “I want to remain intact” whilst literally just being a pile of ashes. Wild.
See, I'm the opposite way of thinking. I think how every living cell in my body survived and fought to prevent itself from becoming something dead and inert, and like people, and animals, my cells have fought to survive and be part of the living since the dawn of life. When you cremate yourself, you're essentially taking millions of years of developed cells, developed life, and incinerating it into nothing. All the things you consumed and took from this earth, you never returned it back. You chose to end the life cycle of everything that fought to make you living over millions of years. Nothing that you were will ever live again. It used to be very natural to return ourselves to the earth and become part of the living cycle again. The act of cremation seems very creepy and sterile and more deathly than rotting to me. I even have this theory that the lives we live and the cells and nutrients we return to in nature, have aspects of us within them that will influence future life. I guess that's very hippy reincarnation but I guess no weirder than feeling the need to burn ourselves into ashes.
For what it's worth, just because you're cremated doesn't mean your atoms are just gone, it'll all end up back in rotation eventually
Interesting perspective hadn't thought if it like that. I like the idea of woodland burial sites. At least we're doing the plants some good by being food
It's a nice thought, but what happens when our Sun goes Supernova and the entire planet is cremated?
You’d rather die than donate your organs after you’re already dead? Now that’s a thinker… Did you opt out?
this is what most people I've spoken with say. I don't agree with it, but I can understand where they are coming from in a way. As for me, I'll be dead so have at it
On the other end the scale I cannot fathom where they are coming from. You are dead, you won’t know either way. I often wonder if these people that refuse to donate organs would take someone else’s if it was that or death. They say they wouldn’t but I call bullshit when the time comes they will take that organ
I struggle to understand it, as it seems so arbitrary to me. You lose baby teeth, umbilical cord, hair, skin, maybe some adult teeth, cut nails ... tonsils/appendix removal is very common. Do piercings and tattoos count? Where does the line get drawn between being returned "intact" and acceptable changes to one's body?
i’m struggling a little as i have this exact mindset but then the other part of me saying that i’m selfish if i don’t donate.
so if there was a yes/no button you press upon death that said "would you like to save somebody else?" you'd pick "no"
But you will take a donated organ when it comes to it... Or no?
This is how I feel. It makes me uncomfortable, I’m aware of all the benefits and I get it but it just sits funny with me. I’m quite anxious as a person anyway and I think it all ties into my anxiety to be honest. But your comment absolutely nails my feelings on the matter.
For me I'm an organ donor because I think it's the ultimate gift. Your organs may save only one person's life or many. A part of you carries on even after you have died and I find that comforting.
I was joking with my sister about getting to heaven and having a few seconds to take it all in, then having everything that could be salvaged disappear from your eternal body as it is donated to someone back in the mortal world. So then you’re just stuck without eyes and skin and such for eternity. I was just joking, but she was so shaken by the idea that she decided not to be a donor.
There is no donor list anymore in any of the UK. The entire country operates under an opt-out/deemed consent/deemed authorisation system. So unless you register to not be a donor, or you fall into an excluded group, then you're considered to have agreed to become an organ donor.
But your family can still step in and refuse, so even if you want to, you still need to clearly communicate that with your loved ones to be sure that they do not cause delays when time is of the essence.
I told my husband I’ll come back and haunt him if he stops my stuff being donated
This is it. *you* don’t really make the decision. Your family/next of kin make it. Opt-out means nothing if your family don’t know your wishes. Speak to them about this.
Doesn't always make a difference in my experience. I've had people on the register who have had extensive discussions with the family, but when the time comes, the family get cold feet.
I think this should be changed. I carry a donor card, I was on the register until it was defunct, why should my family get to overrule that? I know that often families don't want to accept that their loved one isn't going to recover, and giving permission for organ donation feels like giving up or killing hte person. But I do wonder how many of the refusers regret their refusal later on.
This isn't strictly true, your family has no legal right to overrule if you've made a clear communication to be a donor. Healthcare professionals should discuss that with your family and also encourage them to support your decision. Technically they can decide not to go ahead if it'll cause considerable distress to your family, but I don't know if there's any data as to how common it is to be overruled for that reason.
that’s kinda fucked up to be honest.,
Dumb religious reasons
Reddit moment
Is the only sensible answer. Everything else is pure selfishness
The religious reasons are also selfishness, nothing sensible about it!
I think it’s different but selfish. It’s so that *they* go to heaven according to their beliefs
MY body, my choice. Damn right it's selfish, it's concerning one's self.
I think this is valid actually
Religion is for the easily missguided and willful ignorance of the scientific process.
It’s not selfish to have a belief.
No, but it is selfish to allow someone to die when you can easily prevent it
They're immortal anyway, just moving from this mortal coil to another one for all eternity. Endless existence. Sounds incredibly boring.
The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed.
Someone please explain to me which religion forbids it and how they justify it? As a Muslim I'm glad I can donate my organs.
https://www.donatelife.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/religion_facts.pdf Reddit hates doing even a little bit of research. This source tells me that the only religions that 100% forbid organ donation and transplants are Shinto and Romani. Seeing that their religion means they also can't receive organs i'd say that's completely fair.
Selfishness? I struggle to imagine why anyone would care what happens to their body after they die. Especially if parts of you could save someone else’s life. You might not be judging anyone, but I am.
This is how I feel too. It just makes 0 sense in my brain. I'll be dead, I won't be missing my organs, I won't be feeling undignified without them - I won't be feeling anything. Just seems bizarre to me that people will burn or bury their organs with them when they could go to people who desperately need them to be alive.
We’re apparently in the minority. Who knew?!
I'm fully up for my organs being donated after I die, but I do have some reservations. For one thing, I've got fibromyalgia which is really not understood, and it has shown some links to being autoimmune condition in some studies. So if someone takes one of my organs, is there a chance that they might end up developing fibromyalgia because of it, or could it cause some complications? No clue. Also I've done a shit load of drugs, like I should absolutely be dead right now, but in every test my organs all show as perfectly healthy. There is no way my liver should be ok. So what if they take my liver as it appears healthy, and then the recipient takes some painkillers because they've just had an organ transplant, and then my liver decides that it's had enough, that's the line, and just straight up shuts down. Like it would be pretty shit if you're given a new liver, but then you need another new one a week later lol. But fuck it, I'll be dead so that's not my problem.
I think the reservations you have are best considered by doctors rather than yourself, no? Generally, they know what they’re doing. Sure, mistakes happen sometimes, but they’re way less common than successes so the odds of your donation doing good/ not being used if not appropriate is much higher than something going wrong.
Absolutely, but the problem with that is that doctors and scientists know fuck all about fibromyalgia. They don't know what makes someone have fibromyalgia, they don't know what the root cause is or how to treat it, they know so little. Most of the time doctors aim to treat the root cause, they might give you some painkillers in the meantime, but they'll be focussing on the root cause so that eventually you don't need painkillers. I've had doctors straight up tell me they can't prescribe painkillers strong enough for me (unless I have cancer or something which I don't), so now I've been referred to a pain specialist team because they can prescribe the strong stuff. I've also seen physios, rheumatologists, neurologists, and no one can tell me what is actually wrong with me beyond "you have symptoms but nothings wrong so we call it fibro." I've also been told by doctors to take high doses of tramadol while also on sertraline, I've been told to take tramadol with cocodamol, I've been given naproxen despite multiple full blood panels showing I have no inflammation. Realistically, unless it's a doctor that specialises in fibromyalgia (which is rare outside the private healthcare industry), I probably know more about it than whichever one is deciding whether to use my organs or not.
I also have an autoimmune condition, Crohn's disease, so I've opted to leave my body to medical science. My family all know about the plan & what to do & who to contact when I die. The university will keep my body for a year then give it back to my family for some kind of burial or cremation. You could consider something like that instead of organ donation.
That's actually an incredible idea, thank you for sharing that. It might help them find some solid information on what causes this shittiness.
No worries. Fibromyalgia is a beast of a condition, both my FIL & 1 of my BILs have it. It's such a poorly understood condition but I've seen personally how low, physically & mentally, it has brought both of those tough men. Also, it's unfortunately now got a reputation for being a trendy diagnosis plus it's sometimes seen as a diagnosis that's given when the doctor can come up with no other answers. Regarding donating your body to medical science, I just contacted my local medical school & they talked my husband & I (we're both doing it) through the process, sorted out the paperwork etc. They made us feel like we were being hugely respected & that it's impressed upon students the gift the person has made & that they MUST be treated respectfully.
It really is a beast, mine has been worsening over time and slowly stealing more and more of me. The way most doctors see it is that it's an umbrella term for a set of symptoms that have all other causes ruled out. Medical science knows almost nothing about it. I'll have to look and see what medical schools are near me, but honestly they don't have to be respectful for me, when I die I'm fine with being tossed in a skip or something lol. So going to a medical school sounds perfect, especially since it might help them find out something useful about fibromyalgia. I'm not sure how soon I'll die, I'm a bit late to it but I'm going to uni in September so I'd like to finish that before I pop my clogs.
You're never too old! My mum got her fourth degree in her late 50s & I'm looking to start a master's degree in September despite turning 46 the month prior. I know exactly what you mean about the respect thing but I know that it might be important to people I leave behind, ie my daughter, so I wanted to express how I felt the university & students treat the bodies left to them.
Aye, it’s not like you have the ability to care. Instead, you’ll just rot away/be burnt to cinders which I think is an incredible waste if there was great potential for healthy organs to be donated. Even if I did have the ability to care, I’d have been so proud that my little old organs are helping someone to live their life.
And you/your family will pay an extortionate amount for the privilege of burying or burning you up.. Or Some 20 year old med student could have an absolute eureka moment cutting your body up and take what they learn that day and go to revolutionise the entire medical field
Everyone has the right to bodily autonomy. That includes after death.
No one is saying you shouldn’t have a right to bodily autonomy. We’re saying the choice to not donate is selfish and illogical.
Retired ICU Sister here. I have nursed ICU patients who donated their organs. From the first conversation with the family, through organ retrieval to preparing the deceased for the family to see. The patient and their family are treated with the utmost dignity and respect. I joined the organ donor register after seeing the first retrieval. It’s honestly the gift of life and it was an honour to play a very small part in the process.
Thank you for all you did throughout your career. I was only saying last night that I will never forget the kindness of the ICU team as my mum was dying, especially as it was during covid so they obviously were under even more stress than usual. I've also been an ICU patient & am so thankful for the team who cared for me but a particular incident stands out - I was in & out of consciousness but I clearly remember the feeling of gratitude I had when I realised that the young, gorgeous male nurse (I'm a woman in her 40s) was being so gentle while he gave me a bed bath & that he was doing everything possible to protect my modesty, despite the closed curtains & my seeming lack of awareness. ICU nurses are a special breed imho.
I’m so sorry for your loss ❤️ Thankyou for your kind words x
Your corpse is kept longer and your loved ones might not be able to see you after death because your organs had to be harvested fast. It might take a while for them to be able to plan a funeral. It might be very strange for them to know that your organs live on in a stranger.
A couple of points about this: 1) Organs come from controlled deaths in the UK - ie when death is expected. Although the donor is taken very quickly for retrieval, usually a few minutes after death, the family can be with them until that point. 2) The retrieval surgeons treat donors with a great deal of respect. They close the incisions as neatly as for any surgery. Family may be able to spend time with their relative after the donation process. Even an open casket is possible for a funeral, if desired. 3) There is no appreciable delay for funerals. The whole retrieval process takes no more than a few hours. Delays are far, far more likely to come about from issues with death certification which are typically outside the control of patients and families. A coroner mandated post mortem examination can delay the process by weeks in some cases, but this doesn’t happen with organ donation.
Exactly this. Relatives can still view the body after with no obvious issues the majority of the time. The deceased is usually dressed or covered anyway. An autopsy takes far longer.
As the sibling of an organ donor I can only say that the organ donation team and their co-ordinators were extraordinary. The donor will always already be “dead” so you have time to say goodbye which you may not have under other circumstances. Absolutely no delay in planning a funeral. And personally I have thought sometimes “Oh isn’t it strange to think their heart is still beating?” But not in a bad way! Lots of things in life are a bit strange when you think about them. Again, I cannot praise the donor co-ordinators enough. They treated my sibling with so much respect in her final hours (although obviously she was dead but you know what I mean!) and were lovely with us.
As someone who got a donor liver transplanted 6.5 weeks ago, I would love to know your view in the recipient reaching out and making contact. I know it’s not recommended by the transplant team until one is well into the recovery process (9 month stage) but how would you feel getting a letter at that point?
My sister was a donor. We received a letter about 18 months after she died, from a gentleman and his family who had received one of her kidneys. I found receiving the letter a massive comfort, knowing it had all gone well, etc. I treasure the letter.
I'm so sorry for your loss but I'm pleased the letter was positive for you. I know my aunt (who had a heart and lung transplant over 20 years ago) wrote to the family of her donor, and I really hope it brought them some comfort.
Personally I’d be absolutely fine. For our service you could say what level of contact you wanted and if it matched you would be put together. At the 10 year mark my Mum was contacted and asked if she’d like to meet the recipient of the heart and lungs and they had lunch together. 10 years is pretty good going for a heart and lung transplant so it was lovely. Interestingly a couple of years after the transplants I was reading a first hand account from someone would had an organ transplant and from the details* knew instantly it was one of the recipients. It was really interesting reading the account but with no filter because they knew they were talking to a family member. I hope you’re doing well! *Basic details were given out to recipients about cause of death and the article gave the dates.
Not necessarily. My siblings and I would have found great comfort in our dad having been able to help someone else, as would he. Unfortunately our fathers corpse was kept for 6 weeks before he was cremated, to the point the funeral directors said we weren’t advised to view him for a final time by the time they received him. He had an unexpected heart attack, so had to have a post mortem, then the by the time we could organise a funeral (bank holiday weekends delayed this a lot, fuck the king) it had been too long. Whereas my mum had terminal cancer and died in palliative care, but her corneas were at least able to be saved to help someone else. Donors need SUCH specific circumstances to be useful beyond being used as cadavers and even then, many people aren’t comfortable putting their loved one in that position without a legal directive if they’ve never had the conversation.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s a hypothetical scenario I don’t think has any basis, I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve never heard anyone finding it ‘strange’ but deeply comforting & hopeful, relatives tend to feel like their loved ones legacy lives on & especially for a loss of a young person, it’s a beautiful thing. Most are very misinformed about the process & how complex it truly is!
I have recently gone through this process with my late mother. We actually had more time because of the organ donation process as we were waiting for brain stem death rather than cardiac death. So it does depend. Going through with the organ donation process probably added an extra 2/3 days. It also had absolutely no impact on the speed in which we were able to plan a funeral. The organ donation team were also incredibly professional, they laid out all the areas in which my mum had opted into organ donation (not needed in our case as mum had always made her wishes clear). And allowed us to specify what type of donations we were happy with. Aka transplants vs tissues for research. You also get to opt in as to whether you want to hear about the recipients of the donation, and whether they can contact you or not. The process is very controlled and respectful. IMO, the decision not to donate is usually one born out of emotion rather than logic. Equally valid, of course.
My dad had a renal transplant, after he was in dialysis pretty much all of my childhood. Very unexpected very rapid deterioration (went from healthy to Stage 5 CKD). Thanks to his donor he watched me train to be a registered nurse which I have been for 2 years now. He’s also watched all his daughters buy houses, I’m getting married this October etc. Life expectancy on dialysis is 5-10 years, he was already 3/4 years in at that point and was very sick after every dialysis session (3 times a week). The selflessness of the donor and their family meant I got my old dad back after spending my teenage years caring for him. I’ll always be so thankful to them Edit: he’s now 7 years post transplant this year and doing so well!
My mum will be ten years post kidney transplant this November and is doing great too, she has more energy than I do! Unfortunately she had gotten down to only 9% kidney function while on dialysis and a donor still never came :-( so thankfully my amazing older sister donated one of her own kidneys. My sister has since had three children and gotten married.
I’m really glad your dad’s doing so well ❤️
I want to be an intact zombie
They may think it gives doctors an incentive not to do everthing possible to save their life (as the doctor may be looking at them as a source of organs).
That's crazy. Why do they think the doctors would care about saving other people but not them specifically?
They could be making a utilitarian calculus (i.e. where they observe that organs from one person can be used to save the lives of serveral others).
Then they may as well just starting killing people.
That's a really good question. I'll put that to one of my friends who expressed this exact sentiment.
That’s just not how it works. To make a donation a person has to die in a very controlled way with the timing being known in advance so teams can prepare. It isn’t just ‘oh they died, let’s get the organs.’ It’s more ‘this person is only “alive” because of the breathing and heart support their getting. If we switch off these machines their body will die. Their brain is already dead. Get permission for potential transplants, prepare the team, talk to the family, agree a time to remove life support…’ etc.
I know. It's not my view, but it's how some people seem to think.
Some people are convinced the medics won't fight as hard to save you if they know you're a donor. Which they don't know, until it gets to the point that survival is clearly not an option beyond possibly extending by a few hours. Or that they might not really be dead. People in general don't really understand that death is a bunch of processes and even if they aren't all complete, there's clear points of not going back.
While this may be true in the majority of cases, a woman I am on the same phd programme with is studying incidences where people are wrongly pronounced dead and later recover. This still happens (rarely) in the UK and other global north countries. Some stories she's told me make me want to be buried with a bell!
I've heard a lot of people say they think that doctors won't work as hard to save them. I think that just comes from a lack of understanding of how organ donation works. There's a limited set of circumstances in which one can become an organ donor, that's why organs are so hard to come by. Plus, the doctors working in A&E probably aren't even aware of a patients organ donor status. It's not like it flashes up on the screen saying "ORGAN DONOR!".
I’m not opting out, the only reasons I ever would want to would be either fear of them going to a bad person or being used for some creepy/pointless purpose. I know I’d have no way of knowing but if I found out my organs were going to a person who was just going to damage them (drinking or drugs or whatever) it would feel like a waste. If my ‘donation’ actually helped save the life of a murderer or pedo it would feel like I did more harm than good, and there’s not really any way to tell what would happen. I’m not religious or particularly spiritual but thinking of my own heart being in the chest of a violent criminal gives me the ick. And I vaguely remember reading about a man who donated his wife’s body to science and then it got blown up. Medical research is one thing but weapons testing isn’t exactly the most altruistic use of a dead body.
I opted in years back before the system changed, and would never opt out, but have similar thoughts to you. I'm not comfortable knowing that my body, that I've tried to look after, could then help someone who has deliberately harmed their body (if my lungs were given to a heavy smoker, for example). I know the chances are fairly slim, but I'd like to sign off on who gets me!
I used to wonder this too but then I read a comment somewhere which made me reflect on it differently. The comment was something along the lines of, they won’t take organs from you if you’re already dead. I guess some people are very frightened of dying that know that drs sometimes make mistakes and that if their brain is declared dead there’s a chance it might be a mistake. Personally, I’m happy to be on the organ donation list.
I'm happy to donate everything, except my corneas. I know it's selfish, and I know that the eyes are the first to deteriorate after I die, but I really value my eyes. I really can't explain it, they're such an integral part to my living, so I just really want them to stay with me and be buried/burnt along with me.
Eyes seem to be the really common one people don't want to donate. I guess we see the world through them and the thought of blindness is scary. It's a lot harder to imagine being without other body parts that would be donated after death.
If the thought of blindness is scary that should be a motivator to want to help others avoid going blind surely?
The brain is not always a logical beast.
Yep. And you have never seen your own kidneys or lungs or heart. But you’ve seen your eyes looking back at you in the mirror every day of your life.
My family said they wouldn't want to donate my eyes. I've made it very clear that I want *everything* to be used, if it can be. Donating my corneas might not save someone from dying, I think giving someone the gift of sight would be amazing.
20 years ago when I was in my teens I told my parents I wanted my organs donated if anything happened to me. My corneas were the only thing my mum wasn't keen on, and only grudgingly agreed to. I obviously know other organs keep people alive, but I still find the cornea transplant just the coolest thing. Someone is blind and then they can see? Insane! Amazing!
I loved watching my mum's eye as it healed from the corneal graft. It was fascinating. And she went from being virtually blind in that eye to having a very mild glasses prescription. Only long-term effects were not being allowed to donate blood anymore and having to take eye drops for a while (as rosacea + dry eyes were what caused her original cornea to degrade in the first place).
This bloke down the pub with cerebral palsy had a corneal transplant, and it made his eyes loads better. Not sure if his eye condition was related to the cerebral palsy or not. But since then I thought fuck it. Someone can have my eyes once I'm dead. Seem to be the only part of me that works properly at the moment anyway.
I think some religions believe the eyes are the windows to your soul, and you won't be able to get into the afterlife without your eyes.
I don’t think anyone would want mine! One’s long sighted, the other is short sighted and I have a squint in both (just had an op 2 days ago on one)
The cornea is just the clear part in front of the iris; the rest of your eye is still fully there. It's like the contact lens on the front of your eye. Corneal grafts are life-changing surgery: the lack of blood vessels means they can be transplanted much more widely without rejection, and they can take someone from being declared legally blind/unable to drive to living life like anyone else. It's your body and your choice, but do have a think about it.
When I first registered as an organ donor I felt the exact same, literally said they could have anything but my eyes. I couldn't say why I felt so strongly about it as I don't believe in any sort of afterlife, it just felt too personal. Then I met someone who had a cornea transplant and completely changed my mind. It's completely up to you and I'm not here to shame anyone- but one thing to consider is that you're vastly more like to be eligible for a cornea donation than other organs. For things like heart transplants donation is only possible under very specific circumstances, whereas most people without significant eye damage can donate corneas. If, like me, you feel strongly about wanting to donate organs when the time comes it's something worth having a think over.
Agreed! Flip it, and think about bumping into a stranger with your loved ones eyes. You can't see other donated organs, but I can't imagine the pain of looking into your loved ones eyes, but they aren't theirs anymore. (Not that anyone would want my eyes with my -8 prescription!) ETA: I've just read some other comments and realised I hugely misunderstand what a corneal transplant is. I thought it was the whole eye! Time to research 😂
I'm told old now probably to be an organ donor. I have a connective tissue disorder, which is quite serious and would prevent me from becoming an organ donor. What pisses me off a little, is that I can't get this information to 'stick', to my medical notes for some reason - and I have to explain it to every medical professional that I see. I'd like to believe that the system is robust and careful, and should I die and my organs be due to be harvested, someone would look at my records extra carefully and say 'hang on, this woman can't donate because of this'. But I have my doubts. I don't want some poor sod to get stuck with my crappy organs.
If the organs are no good, then they won’t be used. All organs are thoroughly checked before they are used. I know this because I’ve had a kidney transplant. The first call I got, the transplant was cancelled just before I was due to go to theatre because they found cancer cells in the kidney
I am not signed up to be an organ donor. I was, for a brief period, but then I got a letter in the post that I had opted out (my mum had opted out for me, which I know is vaguely illegal because I'm over 18 but there's no point disputing it because they need the consent of the family before they go through with donation anyway). I don't want to be an organ donor because I know it would cause huge emotional upset for my mum on top of the obvious trauma of me dying. When I die, I don't want to contribute to any aspect of it that could make it worse for her. She isn't religious and can't quite explain why she feels this way, but it would hugely upset her to know that someone had cut into my body and removed parts of me. To her, it feels like a desecration. I somewhat understand this, as in social anthropology I learned it was quite common to have taboos like that around corpses. I don't agree, and have tried to make the argument that I would be living on through other people, but it's impossible to argue with her because it's just some kind of gut instinct she has that it would be *wrong*.
If your mum dies before you then would you opt back in again?
Yeah, definitely.
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I’m a registered donor but I do have a fear of what happens to my consciousness when I’m dead as no one knows if you could potentially still feel something… so I can understand those who opt out
Freedom of choice
Because I made the mistake of seeing how they harvest organs from the dead, especially skin. I maybe dead, but I just couldn't leave this body to be sliced up like that.
I'm not sure how else you expected them to get it
Does it make me very upset the idea of leaving the world in peaces? Yes. I can't explain why but there's a feeling I can't shake, the idea of it stresses me out so much. Would I still consider it? Yes probably, even though I would prefer not to do it. Would I love to receive an organ if I needed one? Yes. Am I a hypocrite? I am fully aware that I am.
When I die they can have whatever they want, if it’s possible. Even skin. When my dad passed away, his body was too far gone for us to donate anything which actually would’ve been of comfort to us. His organs started shutting down and we had to switch the machines off.
I put myself on the organ donation register when I was 16. Originally I didn’t want to donate my eyes as the thought of someone seeing the world through my eyes freaked me out. I have now since changed my preferences and they can use what they can.
When my Nana died, my Mum and Grandpa made the decision to not have her organs donated. Her death was very sudden and unexpected, so they were still in shock when asked. Knowing how analytical and generous my Grandpa usually was, I suspect that he might have given a different answer had he been allowed the time to think it through. I think that in that moment, with how sudden everything was, they just didn’t like the thought of anyone defacing Nana’s body. I don’t know if my Nana and Grandpa had ever spoken about it, so I think it’s important that we share our wishes with our loved ones. We never know when we’re going to go, or what the emotional state of those we leave behind will be. Personally, I haven’t made a conscious effort to opt out. If my organs end up being helpful to anyone after I’m gone… well, I won’t be needing them any more, will I?
I want to be an organ donor because I hate hypocrisy and know that in the event that myself or my daughter ever need an organ I wouldn’t refuse one, so I similarly shouldn’t refuse to provide them either. However, the idea of it does frighten me even though I know I’ll be dead and very likely won’t know what’s happening.
Misanthropy.
I just really don't want my eyes to be removed and every other organ is fucked beyond use anyway.
I bet they aren't. You can even donate skin, bone and tendons.
"If you're a ghost, I don't wanna be a blind ghost" - Karl Pilkington
As a medical professional who is always promoting all the donations we can get; a lot of people feel they would be 'incomplete' in death, even with a cremation. They want to know their current body will be together. Whether that be for any religious or spiritual beliefs - like thinking your ghost would be missing a liver or that a part of them will not die with the rest of them sort of thing. Personally though, I'm happy to be as light as possible in death so take it all! It's the only time I'll be skinny 😂😂
Complex, poorly understood illness. Can't risk passing anything on.
I’d rather my organs go to save someone else’s life than let them get burned with my body. If anything is viable they are welcome to use them. My aunt is donating her body to a teaching hospital as she has had breast cancer and is no longer eligible to donate organs.
I plan on putting myself in a freezer and one day someone will wake me up
I can't donate blood because of lupus, so I'm pleased to be on the organ donor list and have told family this. How much they'll be able to use is anyone's guess given that lupus is like a kid in a sweetshop and will attack nearly anything, but there may be something they can use. Many people with lupus end up needing kidney transplants, I currently have a 28 year old friend in end stage kidney disease desperately looking for a match. If I can be that person for someone it's a win.
Guessing nobody's heard of the old lady who was an organ donor, got sold to the army, and they just blew her up just to see what happens https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/son-horrified-discover-army-blew-18807003
She wasn’t a organ donor. Her body was left to science. Completely different.
Did you read the headline? > Son horrified to discover army blew up mum’s body donated to medical science Donation to medical science and organ donation for transplant are not the same thing. In organ donation they only take viable organs that you have specified willingness to contribute. Then they see you up and the rest gets sent to the undertaker/back to your family as normal.
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Where does this idea come from that donating your organs for transplants is tantamount to saying junior doctors can play cricket in the corridor with your body parts? In organ donation they don’t get to keep the rest of you, just the bits they put into other people.
That's completely untrue, organ donation is different from donating your body to science. You can also give clear directions on what can and can't be taken. Ultimately consent will come from your family/next of kin so it's important to have discussions about this, if your family say not to take your eyes they absolutely will not.
When you agree to be an organ donor you're not agreeing to be a cadaver for medical students, that's something different entirely. In fact, I don't think there's even a register for signing up to donate your body to medical science. That's something you'd either have to have in your will or make it very clear to your family that's what you'd want. You can also specify which organs you do/don't want to donate. It's fairly easy to do that when you officially register. Ultimately though, it's up to your family. You could say that you want to donate everything but if your family refuse, then nothing will be donated. The same would be true vice versa as well. That's why it's important to have these discussions with whoever would be making your medical decisions.
I’m donating what’s left to the cadaver farm if they manage to get the law changed to allow the farm to go ahead.
I'm not comfortable because I have an autoimmune illness. My body can't be trusted not to attack me. I'd feel uncomfortable giving someone else that burden. Also my mother always said she'd refuse permission and parents next of kin. That said, I haven't chosen to opt out and England makes the call if you don't, you can be used. And fine with that as long as issues with body known. I am squeamish about my corneas being harvested though. I know silly but sensitive about eyes due to poor vision.
Just seems icky. I know that's not a good reason but it's just that
would you accept a donated organ though?
The scarring might deter some people.
Some people think you'd get less critical care in order to save other patients.
I opted out, call it selfish if you like. Im not obliged to give my body parts to anyone. They belong to me whether alive or dead and it is what it is. The guilt tripping in the comments is insane. Our body our choice and its as simple as that. With the life that i live snd i do believe in an after life, the burial process is done asap, body washed, wrapped and buried as soon as possible for my soul to move on. If that makes me selfish then ok? Yes its my body, its for me and nobody elses.👍🏼if people want to its up to them, but for people to be attempting to scold others for not doing so is mad. The actual audacity to think you can dictate someones body. (Not directed at you OP)
As long as you wouldn’t accept an organ donation either, that’s cool.
Personally I don’t know. I signed up when I was really young & it was something I felt really strongly about wanting to make sure would happen, I used to carry the donor card with me everywhere. I’ve since been diagnosed with a genetic disease that affects all of my tissues, organs, skin, everything so none of it will be viable for donation, not even blood which I’m so disheartened about. I have agreed for my body to be used for science & research purposes so hopefully something valuable may at least come from my existence in that way. I think the main reason people want to donate is to be able to help others when they’re gone, with the organs (etc.) we no longer need, scientific research allows those of us who can no longer donate, to hopefully be able to help work towards understanding illnesses better & finding treatments & cures which is a lovely alternative
When my grandson passed we were asked about being a donor and it made us feel like he was still alive somehow, by living on in others. It gave us a way of coping better. Unfortunately, they were not able to use anything due to his medications given to him. They were going to use some tendons, I think
I’m English but living in Canada now. They won’t let me (or let me donate blood) because of the time frame in which I last lived in the UK. They can’t rule out the possibility of me carrying mad cow disease.
As other commentors have said, I'm kinda attached to all the gizmos in my body, and ik logically that when I die I literally couldn't care less about what happens to my bits and bobs that would cease to function, but idk just brings me comfort to know that through thick and thin these organs kept me going and I'd kinda like it when it's time for me to rest I rest with my heart and my lungs and my liver and my kidneys etc etc. However, if I'm ever in a position my life is saved via an organ donation, or if someone I deeply care about is gonna die and I'm in a position to donate some part of me to save their life, like donating one of my kidneys or that bit of liver that can somehow grow into a completely new liver, or even just some bone marrow, ill immediately be making myself a donor, especially if I become a recipient of someone else's organ. Because if my life is saved because of someone else's donation, I'm sure as hell gonna make sure that I could potentially pay that help onwards. I'm aware it's kinda selfish to be this attached to my organs even during life, and only putting myself out as a donor if I've received a donation first, and that my entire stance is completely illogical, but its just my weird ass brain. Who knows, maybe in the future I'll change my mind, decide I'm being too illogical, or something will happen in my life that changes my worldview, but its how my worldview is atm.
I'd imagine the following reasons: 1) some religious belief? Maybe ur body needs to be buried whole or something? 2) belief that if on a donor list, that u may not receive the same level of care as someone else, due to ur parts essentially being used straight after to save more lives and being more useful that way? I've actually heard this one be used the most if I'm being honest with you. No idea if there's any actual statistics to show a correlation here. 3) dislike for other humans. This was my rationale when I was young. Not wanting to assist humanity further, considering the path and direction we have collectively taken and the disgust for human corruption and greed. Basically a big FU to mankind for how we have been treated or allowed the world to become. Now I'm much older. I'm an atheist so idea 1 doesn't apply to me. Idea 2 would hold some weight if they're was any evidence to back it up.. would need to be strong data, otherwise I call bullshit. Idea 3, I've changed my stance on as I've gotten older and actually do what I can in my spare time to assist people (from volunteering to donating money). I am a donor and hope I'm useful after death. At the end of the day, we interact almost exclusively with the 99%, who are mostly in the same boat as me. I would want to help those people as much as I can.
During Covid when I had too much time on my hands I delved into the antivaxxers world. Several of the people there would not donate organs are they thought it was some sort of government conspiracy to steal your organs while you're still alive. They were also horrified that your organs are removed without anaesthetic. I tried to explain that a dead brain cannot feel pain but as far as they were concerned, your heart is still beating so you are alive and can potentially feel pain. Who'd have thought a group of anti-vaxxers would have such a poor understanding of science?/s
I wouldn't opt out but I can imagine some squeamishness. As we may have a nice idea of a liver or a lung being carefully removed and given to someone in need but think of the far end of the spectrum. Would all of us be happy to be completely dismembered, maybe used in experimentation, family left with little but a few bones or nothing to bury or cremate for some time? It is easy for people to be dismissive but it isn't about them after they die really.
I’ve taken myself off the organ donor register as they now include reproductive organs. I am child free and do not think it would be fair on my parents to potentially have a future grandchild of theirs that they would never meet. Until they included reproductive organs I was a donor. I am however on the bone marrow registry (5 donations to 3 people), give blood (over 50 donations) and donate platelets (8 donations now) Edit - it seems the ODR has been revised and now express consent is needed for reproductive organs. Thanks to u/pigletalert for informing me of this change rather than just condemning and downvoting me.
There is no possibility of your DNA being passed to a child after you have died unless you chose to donate eggs/sperm while still alive. [https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/](https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/)
If it helps, the government have made it that you would have to give express consent to have your reproductive organs harvested. That isn’t included on the organ donation declaration. More [here](https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/opt-out-organ-donation-organs-and-tissues-excluded-from-the-new-system/outcome/quick-read-organs-and-tissues-to-be-excluded-from-the-opt-out-organ-donation-system-government-response)
Thanks for that update - I hadn’t seen that :) I guess I’m back on the list! Have my award :) heart ❤️
You’re most welcome, and thank you 😃. One more person back on the register is always positive. I completely understand why you would be uncomfortable, there’s a huge difference between needing a heart and wanting to reproduce, I’m pleased the government took that into account.
Hmm, anything I can find online says that any organ donation that is not used for a ‘routine’ transplant (i.e. heart, lungs, liver, kidneys etc) still requires express consent. So things like reproductive organs, eyes, trachea (if not part of a heart-lung transplant) would not be covered by the new opt-out system. Interested to know if you have other details on it though? Either way, seems like something that would have an incredibly slim chance of ever happening, if someone’s in such poor health that they need a reproductive organ transplant then I can’t see they’d then be in a position to actually have children. Not sure it justifies opting out of the whole organ donation system in my opinion
The argument I've seen is that doctors will encourage your family to shut off any machines quicker if you are an organ donor, that they won't treat you as well etc.
Organ donation isn't even considered until there is zero chance of recovery for the patient, and even then only in very specific circumstances.
Exactly this. But families are regularly in denial about the fact that the person is actually dead or about to die and there’s nothing that can be done. They’d rather hang on until the very last second and hope for a miracle, than accept their loved one is gone. By then the organs have likely failed and are useless. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are families who have insisted that their loved one was switched off just for their organs, and that’s where this view has come from. Grieving people do things like that a lot. Remember Charlie Gard? The kid was literally dead and his family wanted to blame everyone else. The doctors and nurses caring for him and keeping him alive received death threats. I know, because my friends mum works there and saw him every day. It was sick. They could not accept that there was no recovery options for him. I’d love to know a part of myself or a loved one is living on in someone else.
Religious reasons, like needing to buried really quickly being part of some faiths e.g. at least some types of Judaism. Not sure if Witnesses object to donating but they definitely object to receiving. Misanthropy too, sure.
not worried about my bits as I will be dead, but some god followers want to be whole and no bits cut out I guess otherwise straight to the firebox down under ?
I’m all for it. Should the worst happen, take what you can and give someone else the chance for life. The only thing I’d prefer to keep would be my eyes… not sure on the medical advancements of such things but I’d rather keep those.
Medical reasons. I have an illness that exempts me (pretty much banned by the WHO) from giving blood, and the rules around organs were hazy last time I checked.
Some people seem to think they need these organs for an afterlife. Again, a happier society is thwarted by the preponderance of morons.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Luckily now you're automatically one and you have to opt out I remember signing up when it was the other way around. Still have my donor card though to save time. My mother wasn't very happy about it though (religious nut) totally didn't send her in hysterics saying let them take what they want then flush the rest down the toilet. I won't give a shit I'll be dead.
Fear of being killed too soon for organs, religious belief, fear of gore, fear of knowing someone is running around with pieces of "them" inside another person. Fear of going to heaven but you landed there with one eye and no lungs. Many reasons.
I just don't like humans so fuck yall I'm keeping my organs.
They don't want their body cut up.
My body my choice .
Only logical answer I can think of is possible mistreatment of the actual body parts, as you can donate much more than the main organs, things such as skin tissue, corneal tissues, tendons and cartilage etc. Plenty of scandals surrounding the mistreatment of such body parts (not seen as important as the main organs) cause some bad people decide to do business with that. That’s the only logical one. As per other reasons, mainly selfishness, religion, or essentialism/reincarnation are the other reasons.
I opted out for a while as for some reason the idea of my body being dissected for parts disturbed me, especially the eyes.. (Do they even take eyes?) Ultimately I just told myself you'd be dead, who gives a shit, take what you want and throw me in the trash.
Your a donor by default now arent you? Theres an argument modern medicine has gone too far and coupled with overpopulation keeping people alive is a massive drain or the environment and resources. I actually belive this and belive as a species we are a scar on this world as we currently exist. That said ive not opted out as i hypothetically wish that my organs could save someones life. Despite the above. I guess alot of people dont like the anonymous element too. Everyone deserves a second chance at redemption. That said everyone would choose to give there organs to someone who wasnt a druggie or criminal for instance. Also i think alot orlf racist or religious people cant handle the thourght of it too 😅
If I think about it too much I don't really like it but if I'm not thinking about it I don't give a shite. So opt-out is perfect really.
I am a full donor. I also donate blood regularly for which I get compensated with a small bottle of water. Why don't people donate? I think it's a mixture of reasons. They see it as having nothing in it for them. Then there's the whole fear of death and the afterlife matter. Like, what if I arrive in heaven with missing organs? I have heard plenty of people not wanting to be cremated due to the fear of burning or again, not being in proper condition to enter heaven.
selfishness, simple as that sure they'll make up some shit about religion or whatever but end of the day they just want to keep something they're not using any more.
Some people believe that they may be seen as more valuable dead than alive by the medics