When you are finished with that…
Something has been occupying my thoughts of late. It seems to be following me about, as wherever I turn I seem to either read about it, watch something about it or talk to someone about it. Do you ever find that happens from time to time?
The subject is organ donation, and it was first triggered in my mind after watching a short news story about how the Welsh Minister for Heath and Social Services is attempting to make organ donation after death an opt-out system instead of the opt-in one it currently is. When I watched this, I found myself in total agreement. I would love to know that when I die, if someone else could be helped out by it in some way (however small) that would be great. Also, it’s not like it’s really putting me out, after all, I’d be dead – so I would not really have to DO anything anyway. But, up until very recently, I have not been on the Donor List. So if I died, It could be very possible that my body would go to waste, so to speak.
I was a little ashamed of the fact that something I so strongly agreed with was not something I was signed up for, that I was in fact one of the statistics that had NOT put their name down on the list. Now, this is not because I don’t care, or I could not be bothered. It’s more because I’ve been pretty busy in my life to date and have had a lot of things swimming around in my head (as we all do), and to be honest, organ donation has not been one of them (and I’m sure I’m not the only one)…not until it seemed to start popping up so frequently.
So this blog is making use of one of the wonderful aspects of the internet. It’s a powerful tool where you can tell all of your friends about a subject in exactly the way you want to, instead of trying to bring it up in conversation…and lets be honest, organ donation is not usually a hot topic for most people over a pint.
So, my message is:
If you, like me, have no real religious or personal beliefs that are going to stop you, and you don’t mind the idea of your body being looted for spare parts after you are gone, please (if you have not already) put your name on the list and sign up as an organ donor.
I realise that there are a lot of people out there who don’t like the idea of it, and sometimes talking about our own mortality can be an uncomfortable subject. So it’s not for everyone. But, put it this way: If tomorrow you got hit by a car and were rushed to hospital and found to be in need of some type of transplant…how many of you would say no? I know that I wouldn’t. So it could be said, if you are willing to be aided by it, you should also be prepared to help if you found yourself dead but with a good and usual body. I have been thinking, and I don’t mean this to come out as cheesy as it probably will, but I’ll say it anyway: Your best gift to anyone in the world and the best thing you may ever do could be in your willingness to help someone after your death.
So, if like me, you agree with organ donation but up until now have not been reminded about it, or been given enough prompts to think about it, consider this one of them. Hopefully it will be enough.
If you have a few moments spare, visit this link and fill out a short form:
http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/default.jsp
Sorry for the rather heavy subject matter, however I feel it to be important and a feel rather ashamed to have only just cottoned on. Knowing my luck I bet everyone reading this is already on the list and I have just succeeded in advertising the fact it’s taken me so long! But seriously, if one of you is not and if it gets one of you thinking, then it’s worth it.
Thanks for reading.
I hope everyone had a good New Year x
i agree with you!
when we signed up to our new doctors surgery i had to pretty much bully my other half into signing himself up.
once you’re dead and gone other people could use them much better than you could.
I disagree. The world is vastly over-populated and we’re still focusing on prolonging life-expectancy instead of tackling the problem of their being far too many of us.
If/when we start lowering the birth-rate, I’ll be up for lowering the death-rate too.
Hi Ben, thanks for your comment. I understand your point, but I feel it is quite a different issue. May I ask, at what point will you be happy with the birth rate? What’s the target you feel we should reach before you will agree with organ donation? Well, obviously my blog did not win you over, so I guess we won’t see you on the organ list any time soon. However, If you believe lowering the birth rate is something that needs to be achieved before you can personally allow yourself to help others live after your death, I wish you all the luck with your cause.
Personally I’ll be happy when I don’t see people absolutely everywhere I go. I’d like to live somewhere with very few people. But realistically, it’s sufficient when the population of people is no longer a threat to the planet it lives on, and it’s natural resources are not depleting too quickly to maintain life as permanently as potentially catastrophic events like eventual meteor impact or an extinguished sun will allow.
Maybe there are enough good people in your life worth saving. Personally I know very few who deserve my organs.
Pretty much everyone I know is a meat-eater, a polluter, is self-centred, individualist, buys clothing and technology without an understanding of the rammifications of their purchases, condoning greed, materialism, and without giving any thought to how much they waste and destroy. Carbon footprint and all that.
If you honestly contribute nothing to these issues, then you can have one of my organs. Maybe. I just don’t want my organs going to some random fucker who I’ve never met, and might be a corrupt politician or police officer, wife-beater, or rapist.
Did you think about who your organs might go to whilst writing this blog entry?
Yeah of course I did, but the idea did not trouble me. What I find interesting in what you say is that you accuse many people of being ‘self centred’ and ‘individualists’ yet you yourself are very concerned about where your organs may go, it could be said that’s a touch hypocritical. But yeah, as I said, it’s not for everyone. I can understand very much where you are coming from, I don’t share the opinion, but I can understand feeling like that. I suppose I am quite sensitive on the subject as I know that someone very important to me will very possibly be relying on the good will of a stranger to help her. I feel as a result of that, it would be hypocritical of myself not to try and encourage others to donate and donate myself. As I believe if you are in a situation where you will enjoy the benefits of someone elses unbiased sacrifice, you should be able and willing to make that same sacrifice yourself. So please excuse my tone if I get a little heated.
No problem, heated is good.
But sure, I agree with almost everything you have said. The only problem is your ‘opt out’ as opposed to ‘opt in’ proposal is not ideal.
Taking something from someone by default whether they are alive or dead infringes upon the basic rights of the living/deceased individual, rights which – upon his death – would fall to his family to make the decision. Not to mention it would be a system managed by government. Every individual has the right to make his own decisions, on his own, without the forceful hand of any authority figure. You cannot permit someone to default ownership of something that does not belong to them, whatever the reason.
There is nothing wrong with donating organs, and I would happily give my own to someome worthy, but not to a pedophile, rapist, etc. If my organs were to go to any old fucker without my consent due to a default opt-out system, that could potentially be an indirect immoral act.
It is like taxation. Some taxes are good, others are bad. But all are fundamentally theft. I could think I am doing good to help my country by paying taxes, unaware that my contributions are making their way into a military budget to fund wars I may strongly disagree with. Similarly my organs might go to someone truly vile.
This, hand-in-hand with the over-population issue is the basis for my opinion.
Well put mate. Yeah, any imposed system is not without it’s problems, mainly the ones you mentioned. I can appreciate the it from a moral point of view and also from the human rights angle, as well at it being something controlled by the government. I’m not saying it’s ideal at all. I suppose I am viewing it from my position, having realised that something I agree with so strongly was not something I was involved in, purely because I was never put in a situation to think about it. If you have to opt-out of it, and that is a well known fact, then if forces people to at least pause for thought. I know that there are a lot of people who would donate their organs who are currently not purely because they have not thought about it.
As for the ‘not wanting to give your organs to someone you morally disagree with/dislike’ argument – I understand that in your death you would not like to know that your organs have gone to someone who has committed or is part of something you disagree with – meaning indirectly you are enabling them to continue. I would not feel comfortable with that either. I suppose this is one of the problems with it, as I say, it’s not perfect. But the way I think about it is…if I saw someone in mortal danger – I’d go and help them out. If I then realised after that I had just helped someone that was maybe not worthy of help, I can’t re-take that moment…but I have already acted, and most would have. I have never heard someone say ‘I would have rescued the man, but he could have been a rapist, or someone I don’t like, so I thought I’d let him die’ – by using that excuse, it works the other way round too. You could use that as the reason as to why you do not donate, and as a byproduct of that you could have been in a position to save one of the most ‘morally-worthy’ people, and you would never know that you did not…
Opt-out is a tricky subject, It’s something I would welcome, but I know a lot of others would not – it opens up a big moral argument. But, as that’s not likely to happen anytime soon, I suppose all I can hope for is that that organ donation gets a bit more press, and that a few more people pause for thought on it.