Nurses and Organ Donation

snootwiggie1 · Jul 23, 2009

I honestly feel that organ donation is a very personal decision. I have expressed my views about being an organ donor for 35+ years now. Two years ago, my husband died while waiting for a liver transplant. He'd been in the Liver Transplant Program at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for 10 years. Five weeks before he died, his MELD score was 18. Four days before he died, it was suddenly 35. I was totally unprepared for him to deteriorate that rapidly. He'd been doing fairly well, though was unable to work because he gradually became sicker. He had cryptogenic cirrhosis--he never did drugs, never smoked and rarely ever had anything alcoholic to drink. A 6 pack of beer might last him a year. He was not a candidate for a living donor transplant, even though one of our 4 sons was a match, because of portal vein thrombosis. He'd been hospitalized for fractures of his left tibal plateau and left lateral malleolus, couldn't have it surgically reduced due to his platelet count being in the toilet. He was in a non-weight bearing cast from crotch to toes and not strong enough to maneuver on crutches and chose to go to a nursing home as we had 2 small dogs. The SNF was a total nightmare and a fight about everything. It's a long sad story and I've bored you enough. Do I believe in organ donation? You bet your life I do. Our youngest son thought he didn't want to be a donor if something happened to him until his Dad needed a new liver. He did an about face on his decision and talks to his friends about donation. Those who knew my husband feel the same way we do. Some people have religious constraints about donation and it's best to follow their beliefs. Mine won't do me any good when I die, so if someone else can benefit from what I can no longer use--more power to them. My whole family is on the same page. My oldest brother lost one of his kidneys to cancer about 2 1/2 years ago. I'd give him a kidney in a heartbeat, but he's doing fine so far :twocents:

sunkissed75, CNA · Jul 23, 2009

my 16 yo son and i, were talking about this very subject today.
he is going for his driver's permit, and said that he didn't want to donate his organs.
he was under the impression that once someone sees you're an organ donor (aeb driver's license), someone may kill you for your organs. ()
i assured him it wouldn't happen in this country.
(a teen's mind never ceases to amaze me)
anyways, yes, take my organs...
any and all of them.
and that goes for my loved ones, as well.
leslie

i think organ donation should be the other way around. a card should be signed if you don't want to donate your organs. organ donation should be automatic...how many preople die waiting for organs and yet organs get wasted because a card wasn't signed? it makes me crazy when i hear people say they won't donate their organs because they want to burried whole. (i'm not talking about religous beliefs, just uneducated beliefs!) oh, but they'll take a donated organ if they need one! hypocrits!!! :hlk:

tfleuter, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2009

I think organ donation should be the other way around. A card should be signed if you don't want to donate your organs. Organ donation should be automatic...how many preople die waiting for organs and yet organs get wasted because a card wasn't signed?

What you are describing is what other's have desribed as the "opt-out" system. Others have expressed why they don't support such a system, myself included (even though I am an organ donor myself).

Doesn't seem right to suggest that a person's body is "wasted" just b/c their organs were not donated after death. Seems to be a pretty univerisal fact that family and friends of the deceased often find comfort and closure by honoring their loved one with a ritualistic burial or cremation. How the body is handled (even for those that belive the spirit has left) is often very important to those in mourning. It's why we typically don't just toss our dead over a cliff or into a garbage heap :cool:

Of course, I am not suggesting that the bodies of organ donors are handled in an innappropriate manner or simply discarded after the procedure is through. Nor do I believe that is what your were implying!

I would rather see more effort be made to educate the public about what does and does not happen in regards to organ donation and what a beautiful, life-saving gift it is. Not only that, but that it can also be a source of comfort to the deceased's family if viewed and presented in the right way. I could see where many families would be resentful towards the whole process in an opt-out system if they felt their loved one's organs were taken b/c nothing was done to prevent it, and not b/c it was something the patient wanted.

Just my two cents, anywho

DeLana_RN, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2009

Wow. Thanks for the opinions.
I am for donating my organs but don't know if they would take them (I too lived in Europe during the "mad cow" thing).
I completely forgot about that whole opt-out rather then opt-in debate. That is where I really have trouble deciding. I lean toward the opt-out version because I think it would make people think about it who normally could care less.
I feel like the father in Fiddler on the Roof:
One the one hand....but on the other hand......

Since I'm the one who posted I would not donate because I have been banned from donating blood due to "Mad Cow Disease" for having lived in Europe (which I consider to be a ridiculous reason and not valid since I was never in the UK), let me assure those of you in the same boat that you are able to donate organs (even bone marrow, since they did not kick me off that list when I asked about it - go figure). Just to make a point, however, I will deny them my organs...

... OK, maybe I'll simmer down in a few years. Right now, though, I'm p*****.

DeLana

DeLana_RN, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2009

I have been listed as an organ donor on my drivers license since I was 15, I'm registered w/ the Bone Marrow Registry, and until early 2000 gave blood regularly. That's when I was informed about not being able to donate blood due to having lived in Germany in the late 70s early 80s as well. I never thought about how/if that would affect organ donation. Gonna do some research on that now.
*Just got off the phone w/ someone at LifeSource (a real person, not a bunch of automated voices and choices), and was told that having lived in Germany does not exclude one from donation. Does make you a "high risk" donor, but that the information is relayed to the potential recipient, then they can choose if they still want to receive the organ. Although, makes me wonder, if they say no, does that lower them on the waiting list.

"High risk donor"? They are nuts. I'm sorry, but how many cases have there been of Mad Cow Disease in the World? Less than 200? And almost all of them in the UK? I think it's just ridiculous that the FDA has banned anyone who lived in Europe from donating, or designating them "High Risk", when the U.S. does not even bother to test its cows for Mad Cow (and would never know if it had the same problem). But I better get off my soap box now, there's no point to it. The FDA is just the FDA (I don't even want to hear about blood shortages, when they have needlessly banned perfectly healthy people for what's basically a witch hunt).

Just my :twocents:

DeLana

jnrsmommy · Jul 23, 2009

I would rather see more effort be made to educate the public about what does and does not happen in regards to organ donation and what a beautiful, life-saving gift it is. Not only that, but that it can also be a source of comfort to the deceased's family if viewed and presented in the right way.

I couldn't agree more w/ this statement.

I also agree that this is a completely personal issue, and each individual's position should be fully respected. What I cannot stand is that when there is documented proof that the deceased wished to be a donor, but the next of kin/poa decides to not donate.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jul 23, 2009

I have donor on my DL, and I wouldn't ever change it. When I'm done using them, I most certainly will share (I guess I paid attention in kindergarten). My grandmother has those religious beliefs though which frustrates her as she knows my wishes.

Emma Peel · Jul 23, 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.

Same here. My family are donors going back at least two generations. Since this was before organ donation was possible, we donated our bodies to science. So now my wishes go in order: 1) organ donation if at all possible. 2) tissue donation if possible 3) donate to Anatomical Gift Society, which supplies medical schools with bodies for students to learn from.

Let me help a sick person directly by giving an organ they need, or at least let me contribute to the knowledge and skills of the medical community. :nurse:

bulldoggurlie · Jul 24, 2009

im kinda biased on this one as i'm a kidney transplant recipient of 14 years from a cadaver so to speak. Why would someone want to be buried or creamated with their organs when they can save so many.....the ultimate recycling :)

dream'n, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2009

I am not an organ donor and yes, I am educated on the subject. I will not go into my reasons here as they are personal and I don't feel like having to defend them or myself on this forum. I truly feel for anyone or their loved ones that are waiting on a transplant and of course I feel extreme empathy toward them. BUT my decision was made to not donate after much thought and soul-searching and should be respected.

If others feel that this makes me a selfish or uneducated person, so be it I suppose.

jnrsmommy · Jul 24, 2009

I am not an organ donor and yes, I am educated on the subject. I will not go into my reasons here as they are personal and I don't feel like having to defend them or myself on this forum. I truly feel for anyone or their loved ones that are waiting on a transplant and of course I feel extreme empathy toward them. BUT my decision was made to not donate after much thought and soul-searching and should be respected.
If others feel that this makes me a selfish or uneducated person, so be it I suppose.

That is very much your right to feel the way you do and to have the opinion/position that you do. No one should try and make you change your mind, after you have made an educated, well-informed decision. It's the uneducated, unwilling to listen that I have issues with. Then again, it's still their right to that decision.

Effie, RN · Jul 24, 2009

Absolutely am an organ donor, have been as long as it has been an option. Have encouraged this with all of my family and most of them whole-heartedly agree. My parents and I were recently talking about how much more of a person's body can be donated which they want to do because they do not believe anything should be wasted! (They are 75 and healthy.) I agree with HM2Viking's idea of an opt-out rather than opt-in program. Many more people's lives would be saved.