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re: Organ Donation: Why don't more people do it?

Posted on 4/23/14 at 9:57 am to
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
15035 posts
Posted on 4/23/14 at 9:57 am to
quote:

I signed up to be an organ donor when I first got my driver's license back in '97


This is another thing that most people don't realize, so I will share: the heart on your license means very little. It allows the person calling your family to say "we think this was his/her wishes," but they still have to agree and do the paperwork (typically over the phone. Think of it like a blood donation interview on steroids). People without hearts on their license also get called. Their families also get asked. If I could stress for people to either sign up to be organ donors by their driver's license/mail in form or simply discuss their wishes with their family, I would take the latter every single time. That's the far more important thing when it comes time to make their decision. If there's one thing I've learned, someone's family who's always been told "take everything you can when I die" or "take everything but my (pick any organ, oddly enough. Will never understand the opposition to a single subset of donation, but I've that people are people and have strong feelings about, well, anything)" are way more likely to be donors than those who just have the heart on their license.
The heart on your license, in my experience, does correlate with a higher number of donations in instances where it wasn't discussed with the family prior to the death, but only by a slim margin. The number one thing I encourage everyone to do, both pro- and anti-donation is to just have that little talk with your (in order) spouse, children (>18), parents, and siblings. They make the final decision, regardless of circumstance. And the highest priority of NOK does trump all others, but I always encourage the family to make these decisions together.
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