Thoughts about Organ Donors?

havehope · Jul 22, 2011

Thank you everyone for your responses! You all have deff. cleared it up for me! :) Thank you!

Canesdukegirl- thank you for explaining it to me! Makes much more sense! :)

RN58186 · Jul 22, 2011

I work in kidney and pancreas transplant. Our surgeons do not harvest any organs until 2 physicians declare brain death. Our centre has a 100% ask rate--that is to say 100% of pts who are declared brain dead, their families are spoken to about donation. However no one in the transplant dept has anything to do with that discussion. That is left up to the ICU docs and the organ and tissue procurement dept. Once a family agrees, only then do our surgeons become involved. And in my province it is still the case that whether the donor card is signed or not, the decision ultimately rests with the families. No one would give up on trying to save a pt just so that they could be an organ donor.

I cannot be a donor for solid organ transplant because I have diabetes, but I have signed to donate tissues, eyes and bones if they can be used. And my family knows my wishes (I told them I'd come back to haunt them if they went against them....

Working in transplant I have seen so many pts who are so grateful for the gift they have been given. We do facilitate thank you letters to donor families as long as there is no identifying information in them. And the majority of them who have received cadaveric organs never forget that someone else had to lose someone very important to them for the transplant to have happened. I truly believe in the good the majority of transplants can do. Yes, there are pts who get kidneys and then not take the best care of themselves and wind up back on dialysis probably sooner that they might have, but they aren't the majority. I love seeing pts get a second chance at life--especially the type 1 diabetics who get a pancreas transplant - and leave the hospital not even checking blood sugars anymore. When they have been diabetic since they were a kid, it truly does give them a new lease on life. I love my job.....

diva rn, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2011

I am absolutely an organ donor as are my 2 adult children. We have been for years.

I have a friend who will celebrate her 5 year birthday with her new heart next wednesday (she is 40)...she had some sort of congenital cardiomyopathy and for several years was on the transplant list.

She really suffered both physically and mentally...was bedridden and getting close to death when she got the "call"...recieved a heart from a 18 year old motorcycle accident victim (no helmet)...today she is the picture of health and runs 5 miles a day!!!!!

and by the way she is an ICU nurse!

As much as I was and still am a believer in organ donation, it really drives it home when you are friends with a recipient of a donated organ...wow!

So, it's my belief that eveyone should be an organ donor. But, that's MY belief.

elthia · Jul 23, 2011

I am not an organ donor. Let's just that "something is rotten in the State of Denmark." I used to want to be, until........I guess I've become jaded and have observed too much. Bad personal experience. Kudos to those who are.

Changing my status wasn't one I made lightly. It was a difficult ethical decision, I cried about it for months, but in the end it was the RIGHT choice for me. It was the only way I could bring some control back into my life, and in a small way give justice to someone who had been wronged terribly. Ripples in a pond....I doubt those involved even know know how much the story affected those healthcare workers who had to swallow their personal ethics to work the case, sometimes I don't think they even care.

nervousnurse, ASN · Jul 24, 2011

I am THRILLED to be an organ/ tissue/ bone, (ANYTHING they want--LOL!) donor and I WISH more people were!

My baby brother died two years ago and his donations did the following:

--Saved a father of two !!!:redbeathe

--His corneas gave sight to TWO people!!! :yeah:

---His feet bones went to a young man whose feet had been CRUSHED in a

bad motorcycle accident :heartbeat

---we got lovely LETTERS about each of these incidents. They can't send letters for EVERY little thing, such as where his skin and other things have gone, but that's okay, those

three letters were more than enough for us!!!

diva rn, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2011

Nervousnurse,

So sorry for your loss. That pain never goes away but finding out that your brother's death was not totally in vain does pour some oil on the open wound.

As I stated in the former post, I am a staunch believer in donation. Before I met my friend who received the heart, I worked for years in PICU. We would, from time to time, have to deal with a young persons brain death. Frequently it was a drowning as this is Florida. We would contact the organ procurement team and of course follow the protocol. I worked with them on several cases. It never got any easier. BUT we would get the letters from the University of Miami afterward letting us know where those organs had gone...not the actual name of course, but again, the circumstances of the receipients and our unit was always so happy to get that news. It was bittersweet, yes, but at least those poor little childrens death's gave life to someone else.

zbb13 · Jul 24, 2011

My nephew, age 9, received a heart from a donor. He is now running around like a young boy should, happy and healthy. We are so grateful to the family who donated the organ.

allnurses Guide · Jul 24, 2011

{{{{{{Elthia}}}}}}