In my last column I shared a touching story from the husband of an organ donor recipient. Unfortunately, I had to abbreviate the letter for space limitations. Those that have read the entire piece have told me that it moved them to tears.
Organ donation is an important issue that should be discussed with our loved ones well in advance of the time where a decision needs to be made.
When my father died, I asked my Mom if we could donate his organs. He had been on life support for 3 days, so he was a perfect candidate, although not all of his organs would have qualified. She declined initially, but finally acquiesced to donating his corneas. Last year, when my father-in-law died following a head injury, my brother-in-law also declined to consider donation. Since my brother-in-law is a scientist, I expect that due to the traumatic situation surrounding his father’s death, it was simply too much make the choice at that emotional time.
Had our parents wanted to be donors and made their intentions clear in advance, they would have saved the family the anguish of having to make that decision. I am disappointed in myself for not having brought up the topic when they were healthy.
I believe there is something visceral about the reaction to the idea of harvesting organs from your loved one, especially when they are in such a vulnerable state. You are dealing with the pending loss of someone close to you and emotions are high. So if the person hasn’t made their intentions clear, it’s often too hard to make the call.
What is process to make sure you are listed as a donor? According to the website Organdonor.gov:
“All people should consider themselves potential organ and tissue donors—regardless of age, health, race, or ethnicity. No one is too old or too young to be a deceased donor and most major religions support donation.
Only active cancer or a systemic infection totally disqualifies a donor. There is no age restriction. In fact the oldest donor was 94 and saved the life of a 69 year old woman.
- Eight vital organs can be donated: heart, kidneys (2), pancreas, lungs (2), liver, and intestines. Hands and faces have also recently been added to the list.
- Tissue: cornea, skin, heart valves, bone, blood vessels, and connective tissue
- Bone marrow and stem cells, umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC)
Harvesting organs will not prevent you from having an open casket at the funeral and there will be no additional costs to your family. Choosing to be an organ donor will not affect efforts to save your life, contrary to the message in movies like “Coma”.
You cannot sell your organs. The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) makes it illegal to sell human organs and tissues in the United States. Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. One reason Congress made this law was to make sure the wealthy do not have an unfair advantage for obtaining donated organs and tissues.”
If you have the old card attached to your driver’s license, you might want to update your donation. There are two ways to do so. You can sign up online or in-person at your local motor vehicle department.
When I renewed my license recently I was asked to update all of my information and it was included in the data base. If you aren’t sure and want to register online you can do so at the website. You will simply choose your state and follow the prompts. California residents may use: https://register.donatelifecalifornia.org/register/organdonor.gov.
In reviewing the website I was surprised to learn about an event called The Transplant Games of America. This event celebrates the vitality of the lives saved by transplant. Nor-Cal won the Team Cup award at the event in August 2018 in Salt Lake City Utah.
In my last column I shared a touching story from the husband of an organ donor recipient. Unfortunately, I had to abbreviate the letter for space limitations. Those that have read the entire piece have told me that it moved them to tears.
Organ donation is an important issue that should be discussed with our loved ones well in advance of the time where a decision needs to be made.
When my father died, I asked my Mom if we could donate his organs. He had been on life support for 3 days, so he was a perfect candidate, although not all of his organs would have qualified. She declined initially, but finally acquiesced to donating his corneas. Last year, when my father-in-law died following a head injury, my brother-in-law also declined to consider donation. Since my brother-in-law is a scientist, I expect that due to the traumatic situation surrounding his father’s death, it was simply too much make the choice at that emotional time.
Had our parents wanted to be donors and made their intentions clear in advance, they would have saved the family the anguish of having to make that decision. I am disappointed in myself for not having brought up the topic when they were healthy.
I believe there is something visceral about the reaction to the idea of harvesting organs from your loved one, especially when they are in such a vulnerable state. You are dealing with the pending loss of someone close to you and emotions are high. So if the person hasn’t made their intentions clear, it’s often too hard to make the call.
What is process to make sure you are listed as a donor? According to the website Organdonor.gov:
“All people should consider themselves potential organ and tissue donors—regardless of age, health, race, or ethnicity. No one is too old or too young to be a deceased donor and most major religions support donation.
Only active cancer or a systemic infection totally disqualifies a donor. There is no age restriction. In fact the oldest donor was 94 and saved the life of a 69 year old woman.
- Eight vital organs can be donated: heart, kidneys (2), pancreas, lungs (2), liver, and intestines. Hands and faces have also recently been added to the list.
- Tissue: cornea, skin, heart valves, bone, blood vessels, and connective tissue
- Bone marrow and stem cells, umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC)
Harvesting organs will not prevent you from having an open casket at the funeral and there will be no additional costs to your family. Choosing to be an organ donor will not affect efforts to save your life, contrary to the message in movies like “Coma”.
You cannot sell your organs. The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) makes it illegal to sell human organs and tissues in the United States. Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. One reason Congress made this law was to make sure the wealthy do not have an unfair advantage for obtaining donated organs and tissues.”
If you have the old card attached to your driver’s license, you might want to update your donation. There are two ways to do so. You can sign up online or in-person at your local motor vehicle department.
When I renewed my license recently I was asked to update all of my information and it was included in the data base. If you aren’t sure and want to register online you can do so at the website. You will simply choose your state and follow the prompts. California residents may use: https://register.donatelifecalifornia.org/register/organdonor.gov.
In reviewing the website I was surprised to learn about an event called The Transplant Games of America. This event celebrates the vitality of the lives saved by transplant. Nor-Cal won the Team Cup award at the event in August 2018 in Salt Lake City Utah.
