A Bit of Irony Pertaining to Organ Donors

[Music in My Heart]

I've long been a strong advocate of encouraging people to sign on as organ donors. Personally, I signed the form and put the pink dot on my very first California driver's license at the age of 16. I've been a blood donor for decades and am on the National Marrow Registry.

What struck me this morning was this: Those people whom we'd most like to sign on for the various tissue donor programs (that is, the relatively young and the relatively healthy) are also those people who are least likely to have adequate insurance coverage and therefore most likely to be denied the very lifesaving treatments that they enable.

Meanwhile, simply by virtue of economics and simple good fortune, others benefit even though they themselves may have long refused to participate as a donor and/or created their own need by lifestyle choices.

Already the wealthy have an advantage regarding organ transplantation because they can sign up on every regional list (not to mention internationally) with the expectation that their wealth permits them to be anywhere in the country within 6-8 hours.

It's hard for me to look at my uninsured nephews and encourage them to be tissue donors knowing that they would be denied a transplant for the inability to pay for it.

[Devie06]

I agree! It's sickening in this country, but nobody wants to reform healthcare. I am an organ donor with poor insurance coverage as a student. I can donate my organs but cant receive any if I needed it.

[Trenia]

That is an interesting point. I really do see where you're coming from.

However, just because someone may have neglected their own organs doesn't mean if I were to pass away that I wouldn't want to give them a second, or even a third, chance at a better life.

Would I like for my heart to go to someone like John Q's son? Hell yeah! Will that happen? Probably not. The more people that sign up as donors the better the chance of saving the person that "deserves," for lack of a better word, the organ(s).

Again, I definitely see where you're coming from, but I would feel selfish dying with all these healthy organs and leaving them to rot. Even if they were going to the hypothetical undeserving fatcat.

[FLmomof5]

Hmmm, so 'nephew' I don't wanna suggest that you donate your organs because it would be unfair to you if YOU got sick...and you couldn't get someone elses organs because you don't have good enough insurance. Wow.

As if there isn't a shortage of organs as it is!

[ComeClarity]

My mom specifically told me NEVER to put organ donor on my license. She believes that if I were in an accident or whatever and very critical, the hospital would not try as hard to save me if they knew I was an organ donor because she's heard stories. My brother died in a car accident, FWIW, so I think that's part of her fear.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

my mom specifically told me never to put organ donor on my license. she believes that if i were in an accident or whatever and very critical, the hospital would not try as hard to save me if they knew i was an organ donor because she's heard stories. my brother died in a car accident, fwiw, so i think that's part of her fear.

i understand this mentality. i have relatives who think the same. now that i am an emergency trauma nurse i found that their fears are unfounded. when people roll in and we get report while trying to resuscitate the patient, i have never ever been told in report by emt that someone is or is not an organ donor. in fact, the only time organ donation comes up is after the patient expires despite the fact that we did everything humanly possible to save his/her life. also, after the doctor determines that the patient was healthy. many times people rolling into an er needing resuscitation were not healthy.

[Music in My Heart]

My mom specifically told me NEVER to put organ donor on my license. She believes that if I were in an accident or whatever and very critical, the hospital would not try as hard to save me if they knew I was an organ donor because she's heard stories. My brother died in a car accident, FWIW, so I think that's part of her fear.

I have a couple of family members who believe this.

As with the prior poster, being in the ER, it's not something that ever comes up. From the first responders to the ALS crew to the ER staff, we're all simply too busy trying to keep 'em alive to worry about their donor status. Besides, what would be the motivation to do anything besides try to save them? And surely you've noticed - or will - physicians HATE to give up on anybody.

[2011NursingStudent]

Plenty of young people do have insurance and can get it a) through their parents b) through college or c) through work. I've worked full-time since I was 17 years old, so being young does not mean people can't get insurance. I think it makes sense to for everyone to sign on as an organ donor, and don't believe that younger people have less access to insurance. Insurance is actually CHEAPER for the young and the healthy, so they could go on to the internet and purchase a policy if that was a priority for them. (I am working p/t now, so that's exactly what I did.)

[Music in My Heart]

my mom specifically told me never to put organ donor on my license. she believes that if i were in an accident or whatever and very critical, the hospital would not try as hard to save me if they knew i was an organ donor because she's heard stories. my brother died in a car accident, fwiw, so i think that's part of her fear.

now speaking of scary stories: a friend of my brother's roommate was in mexico and met this gorgeous gal in a bar. they went back to his place for some fun. the next thing he knew, he was waking up in a bathtub full of ice with a roughly sutured incision on his flank and a note telling him to call an ambulance asap. it turns out that one of his kidneys had been removed!!!

urban legends abound...

[noahsmama]

Although I do understand the irony, I still see no reason to allow that to stop you from signing up as an organ donor, or from encouraging others to do so.

Bottom line is that your organs aren't going to do you any good once you're dead, but they might benefit someone else. It doesn't help anyone to let them go to waste.

[Music in My Heart]

I... don't believe that younger people have less access to insurance.

National statistics would seem to contradict your belief. Now of course, it's not primarily an issue of being young... it's an issue of not being able to afford adequate insurance, something which spans the age spectrum.

they could go on to the internet and purchase a policy

One which likely comes with prohibitive deductibles and copays... which would render them useless in such a case.

You're right in the sense that those perhaps most in a jam are the late-middle-aged folks who become unemployed but whose age and/or health history make obtaining an adequate individual policy either impossible or practically so.

[TheCareerStudent]

I personally believe you should do good things because of the love that is in your heart. I do not think you should or should not do a goodwill for others based on what you get in return or what would happen if you were in a similar situation. You never really know what would or would not happen anyway. Charity is about helping people, not what you can or can not get.

I am an organ donor because I would like to think that when I die my body will give life to someone who would otherwise die. I do not think of whether or not I would get a liver if I was in that situation.