Nurses and Organ Donation

frumpter · Jul 15, 2009

Take it all! I'll be gone and won't need it anymore. Giving the gift of life to someone else after I am gone will allow me to keep living in this world a little longer. There is no greater gift than the gift of life. :redbeathe

kids · Jul 15, 2009

Outside of religious reasons, I have no idea why someone wouldn't want to be an organ donor. You're dead: you don't need them anymore. Give someone else a chance at life.
Obviously I am a donor. Take everything you can, and donate the rest of my body to science.

I'm not a donor and if a loved one passed without expressing a preference I would not donate their organs. And no, I would not accept an organ donation.

My reasons are not religious. Like many things in health care I simply consider it one of them many things just because we can doesn't mean we should. Two of my 3 adult children and my husband are not donors for reasons I haven't asked.

allnurses Guide · Jul 15, 2009

Frankly, at this stage of the game, if I needed a transplant, I would not do it. Living with a transplant can be pretty problemmatic. However, I did offer to donate a kidney to one of our local kids a few years back.
I just know that no matter what my loved ones' wishes, there's a huge difference to me between letting someone die and keeping them alive so the organs will stay viable. I simply could not make the decision to do that. Call me a coward or a pollyanna, whatever you wish, but I personally could not live with my last memory of a loved one would be one of letting them die in OR as strangers removed their parts.
And then, even more unnerving, to know that someone out there in donorworld is making huge bucks off the backs -- literally! -- of my loved ones-turned-donors.

Thanks. Couple of follow-up questions.

1. You know they wouldn't be dying in the OR, right? They are already dead and gone.

2. Who do you think is making a lot of money from donors?

The person who said they'd become a donor if they ever needed an organ.... you probably wouldn't be eligible.

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My honest opinion (for which I fully expect to get flamed) - if you're not a registered donor, you shouldn't get listed for an organ. It seems hypocritical and selfish to me to essentially say "Oh, I don't want to help someone else out for xxxxx reason, but seeing as someone ELSE made that sacrifice, I'll go ahead and accept an organ!".

CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 15, 2009

When I'm "gone", part me out!

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2009

I can't help everybody.

There are days when I don't think I can help ANYbody.

But on my last day on earth, let me help somebody. Someone who's blind, someone on dialysis, someone with a failing heart or liver, or a burn patient who needs skin to cover their injuries. Let that be the final sentence in the story of my life.

Take what you need, I don't need it where I'm going.

whipping girl in 07, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I am a donor and so is my husband. My kids are not old enough to make that decision yet but if God forbid something were to happen to them, maybe their gift could give someone else a chance, so I'd donate their organs as well. At least something good could come out of our bad circumstances.

I was an ICU nurse before I got into nutrition support. I cared for many trauma patients who eventually became donors (many, sadly, in a state that repealed the motorcycle helmet law shortly before I became a nurse and had the organ donations double the first year). We worked very hard to save everyone and it was a difficult thing to realize that this young person wasn't going to make it no matter what we did. I watched devastated family members try to process the whole thing and sometimes the only bright spot was for them to know that Brian's heart would go on beating in someone else's chest and give another family their loved one back.

I'm not sure if I'd donate someone's organs if I didn't know for sure what their wishes would be. I'm torn on the opt-out vs. opt-in argument. In reality, I believe, only about 5% of deaths would be eligible to donate. If every eligible donor donated, the demand would still exceed the supply. I would hate to see us view people as only body parts, ya know?

I know I would not donate my parents' organs, as my mom has made me promise her we would not do that or cremate them.

drugstorecowgirl214 · Jul 16, 2009

Yes! I'm already an organ donor. I'd gladly give anything that is needed if at all possible, but I don't feel that health care workers should feel obligated to.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I am not Jewish but I certainly respect the idea that the afterlife is at least in part what you build in the here and now for the future. The memories that you leave your family will echo down 7 generations.

NeoNurseTX, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I'm a donor (and my family is well aware of it) and if it was up to me to donate a family member's organs, I would.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I do not agree with people getting compensated for donating organs - this clouds the motivation for doing so, IMHO. Just makes it all feel a little bit... ugh.
I do not believe the stories of "declaring someone brain dead quicker and surer"... I mean, do nurses really believe this crap? You're either brain dead, or you're not. There are objective criteria to meet, by two independent physicians (and the ICU nurses generally right there). I have worked ICU/transplant/etc for about 13 years and I have *NEVER* seen or heard of any such thing.
Yes, the system is activated early (eg. notification to OPO), but that's because there IS so much testing to be done before considering donation. Ignoring for a moment DCD, which I don't know enough about to comment on, I have just never seen any conspiracy to garnish organs in any hospital I've ever worked at, in Europe, Australia or the US.
I know it's a personal decision, but it boggles my mind that some people won't consider it... just don't understand. People that would not donate, would you accept an organ for yourself or your family members? How do you reconcile that with your opinions on donation? (*genuinely interested*).

With all due respect, you don't have to understand it or like it. To me, this is such a personal decision. I am very vocal about my reasons, some people are not. I don't think anyone should have to validate their reasons in this instance. This goes back to what I said before..the idea of organ donation as a gift is going away, people are just expected now to do it. In some cultures/religions, it is not accepted. Others, like me, have seen first hand the ugly side of it.

No matter, you will have some that choose to donate and some that choose not to.

diane227, LPN, RN · Jul 16, 2009

I have very personal religious beliefs about organ donation (I do not go to church and I am not a member of any religious organization). I do not want any of my organs donated. I have this overwhelming feeling that I am going to need them again in another life. I also want to buried above ground in a crypt. I can't stand the thought of being underground.

leslie :-D · Jul 16, 2009

With all due respect, you don't have to understand it or like it. To me, this is such a personal decision. I am very vocal about my reasons, some people are not. I don't think anyone should have to validate their reasons in this instance. This goes back to what I said before..the idea of organ donation as a gift is going away, people are just expected now to do it. In some cultures/religions, it is not accepted. Others, like me, have seen first hand the ugly side of it.
No matter, you will have some that choose to donate and some that choose not to.

i totally agree w/you, squirrel.

you needn't feel compelled to justify your reasons, about decisions you make about and for yourself.

leslie