ICU nurses- your thoughts on organ donation?

[tankity]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to do some recon and get your views on the donation process to try to see things from your eyes.

What have you seen that you liked? What did you dislike?

What could have been done better?

What sort of questions were raised by your last experience with a donor?

Do you feel that there is enough education about donation?

What would you like to see from your organ procurement org?

[fab4fan]

papawjohn: You were close...it's "schadenfreude." (To take malicious pleasure in another's misfortune.)

[fab4fan]

And I agree with you that there is a huge difference between what we CAN do and what we SHOULD do. I see technology abused everyday. There are some things we shouldn't do just because it's big and techy and impressive. But donation is something we SHOULD do. The ability to give a gift of life to someone else while at the same time providing tiny seeds of sense from what are normally senseless tragedies: win/win/win.

No, donation is something you should do if it's right for you. But just because it's right for you doesn't mean that it's right for everyone.

I think we all know the story about the young boy who was killed while visiting Italy; for his parents, it was the right decision to donate his organs. But as I said before, I do not believe in guilt-tripping people into donation (or breastfeeding, but that's another thread).

Now I'm done.

[utahliz]

Perhaps there ought to be some mechanism for all of us to consider organ donation ahead of time and for our wishes to be honored without requiring a subsequent approach of our loved ones in their time of raw shock and grief?

I have made my wishes clear to my family. Oh, how I wish they didn't have to be asked again if tragedy strikes....

[mattsmom81]

Taking the Bible literally one might find the salivating over organs today and the very public wistfulness I see to be just what the term 'covet' DOES mean. But no, I am not calling anyone a sinner, not my place.

I find myself increasingly distressed at the 'playing God' I see in medicine and science today, and fear where it may lead. I am glad to be out of ICU as i saw a lot of distressing events there.

When parents have a second child JUST to get spare parts for their firstborn, I think we have crossed a serious line. This is the type of thing that worries me. Will we soon be breeding quasi-humans with minimal brains...so we can use them for spare parts?Are some lives worth less...so they can be killed for organs? It is being discussed somewhere; possibly in experimental stages somewhere.

I know I am in the minority with my above thoughts and I understand others see it differently....but its about personal choice, personal belief and value systems. And no I do not try to persuade others to think this way, I'm just expressing my own personal feelings.

[OjoRn]

Sorry Deb but I agree with Fab4fan. those who wish for organs at another's expense? Well to me it is like 'coveting'. Enough said. :stone

I hope I can help here.

I had a transplant, kidney years back, I have also worked

in an ICU in the past dealing with organ donation (post transplant

as well, and I never mentioned my transplant to my families as

it is their time for decision making that is heart wrenching as we

all have seen time and time again).

I never actually prayed for a kidney. I lost the plot once

as you will read below. I just knew it would happen.

I knew someone would "die" to possibly give me a longer life.That was/is

big business inside my thoughts pre/post and futuristically. I do know

that people pray, talk about and desire a kidney, people prayed for

me to get one as soon as possible (which freaked me out, however, being

a person of faith I understood how they meant that.....it was for

me to be free of dialysis as I had more complications than the Titanic

and a very sick child to deal with.) Even before the transplant happened

I sobbed to my H "I can't take another moment of this, I just want to

be free." Of course, I felt horrendous guilt (something that NEVER leaves

most recipients) especially a month later when I was called upstate

to prep me for the surgery. Being on dialysis is a hell that only those who

were on it can speak of. I do know that some do quite well and I did

my best to live my life the best I could but it was a certain hell for me.

So as you can see, my outburst was primal, not a death wish for anyone

honest..........I hope people can believe that.

This isn't black and white. There are so many shades of grey with this

issue that even I struggled with many things while working in ICU and

to this day, personally.

It's unfair that aggressive people stalk a family, I have been fortunate

to work with professionals, one of whom completely broke down in front

of me and said "I do this for folks like you." That floored me, was I to

thank her? Was I to be grateful? Again, shades of grey. I was grateful

that someone would be so caring with a family in the most awful

of circumstances and yet, think of the donors waiting on the other

side. It was quite a conundrum. I saw the family

crying with her, saying no to donation, seeing the child of the patient

screaming and watching one member of the family saying "please do it"

to the spouse.

I am not sure I will ever get over that post transplantation. I am not

sure my guilt will ever leave me while I carry someone's child's organs in

me for the rest of my life, God willing (and my body's willing). I can

only thank them (I did and wish I could a million times a day) and only

hope that they had a very supportive team guiding them through the

decision making process a few years ago.

I pray that no one faces this with their own loved ones but I do know

that I hope if they do that their loved one had a clear idea of what they

wanted and discussed it concisely with their families. I know things

change when that loved one is in the bed and the family is filled with

grief however, the families that said to us in the unit "we knew exactly

what she/he wanted as far as the organs go" were the very families

you heard from later that were doing well, regardless of a yes or a

no. Education is vital before something bad happens.

Thanks for listening, I respect everyone's view here.

OjoRN.