Hey wrappack, are you a real Dr?
If so, can you answer me a question. I cannot give blood, cos I am an ‘organ recipient’ (thank you to the two people that have enabled me to see clearly [
]. Can I donate my organs?Cheers
MelA ‘real’ Dr, no. Not medically trained, but not too far off!.
Hence, I cannot specifically comment RE organ donation. I assume that you had picked up a couplacorneas?
PS- The cornea and the lens bend and focus the light before the image reaches the retina and complex electrical codes are sent to the brain. The cornea does most of the light bending, while the lens behind it does the fine focusing. Because they must be transparent, the cornea has no blood supply, which is, for you, very good. Since it has no blood supply, your body cannot recognise it as a ‘foreign body’, and reject it. But without a blood supply, how does it get its nourishment? Nutrients diffuse across it, and the stuff (technical medical term I learnt in fifth year that, “STUFF”, bit like in first year when we were told to be wary of patients whos files were marked ‘fith’ in pencil) that is around them, the clear fluid, the aqueous humour (dunno why its called humour, cause its not really funny now is it?)
Thus, because your body cannot reject it, you are spared from the cyclosporin regime that most organ (ie kidneys) must have till they are resting beneath the daisys!
Now, here comes the interesting part. I assume that most organ recipients cannot become organ doners, as there is a miniscule chance of getting infections, etc, and we as a world get all worked up from one sars death, or a couple of avian bird flu deaths (but ignore the 20 thousand aussied dead each year from smoking, and ten thousand from boozing, but again, I digress). But corneal transplants are different because they are highly unlikely to get anything into the bloodstream.
Bet you never thought you would learn that on the property web site!
Of course, I have rambled on and on (as usual, you all scream, but I feel, even though brevity is the soul of wit, verbosity can be the soul of learning and understanding) without answering your question. Best to ask the organ donation organisation.
And for those still awake, and are wondering RE the fith, the ‘ith’ stands for ‘in the head’
I am not an organ donor for this one reason. I have many friends in the medical field and many of them say they wont do it because if u are a organ donor and your chances of surviving are very slim for what ever reason and there are people waiting for organs u got to donate, the Drs may not do all they can to save u, they may see it as sacrificing one to save 5. I bit harsh in today day and age, but I have it from good authority this does happen. Im not saying they would do this if your chances are high of surviving, but they may if your chances are slim.
Regards Bear
Absolute bollocks………in medical circles this is up there with the urban myth of individuals on holiday who wake up to find their kidneys removed.
In decades of being involved with trauma medicine I have never once seen or heard of a case where someone who was an organ donor was simply left to die because they could be harvested.
Before you make very childish and silly statements you might want to actually want to research the topic, you can do this my contacting various organ donation societies or the ethics committees of the hospitals that are involved in transplant medicine.
ps: I am an organ donor
well said valiantwagon
Well ValiantWagaon, thank you for your reply.
I’m sure you haven’t witnesses it and I never said u will be left simply left to die because they could be harvested.
I said and I quote “the Drs may not do all they can to save u, they may see it as sacrificing one to save 5.” I’m not saying this is a common practice. Urban myth or not, we are all entitled to our opinions. I know this discussion has been bought up in certain circumstances. I’m not saying it has happened, but im saying it could.I know alot of stories some that have been made public even. I think we have all heard about what happened here in Adelaide many years ago with the children’s hospital.
Regards Bear
Before organs are donated you have to be brain dead! Not just likely to die, not severely comprimised, not just on life support, but literally brain dead. No brain function. Please dont quote something that belongs in Jerry Springer. People even believe the Raaelian cult (earth was inhabited and created by aliens, etc), and this is how those stupid urban myths get sent to my wifes email address by her naiivebut well meaning friends. Only difference is that the end result of less organ donors is more people on transplant waiting lists winding up on the morgue slab a decade or two early.
In australia, we have an ‘opt in’ system of organ donation. Therefore, all people are assumed non donors, unless they have signed their drivers licences. Even after that, for some stupid reason, their next of kin have the right to refuse the donation. So, how’s this for massive stupidity. I (as a willing and signed organ donor), could die in a crash, and my next of kin (in great shock and distress), can (and often do), refuse the donation. Hence, my wishes can be denied.
End result- massive amounts of people dying needlessly each year
Cultural factors also come into play. Eg, a lot of the asian countries such as japan have an avoidance to donating blood, let alone organs. End result- massive importations of blood, (difficult, expensive, certain parts of it have a very short shelf life) and when their little kiddies get leukaemia, where does the transplant come from? If the immediate family are not a match, it is very hard to ’tissue type’, or find a suitable match across different races. End result- more dead kiddies. Got you thinking?
Some countries have an ‘opt out’ system. Ie, everyone is assumed to be a donor, unless they have signed their licences to be non-donors. Sounds pretty good to me, if you dont want to donate, you dont.
End result- much shorter waiting lists, and a massive savings of life.
What goes around does indeed come around, and I reckon that getting sliced and diced and spread around would be a bloody brilliant thing for all involved (‘cept for me being brain dead and all that[^])
Now heres an opinionated thought. If I and another 32 year old (who was never, and has no intention of being a donor) are both at deaths door and in need of a kidney, and there is only one available, whom do you think it should go to?
Another thing is this- gotta tell your next of kin what YOU want done. Both mum and I have talked about it, and feel that we both want donations to take place if possible, regardless of the circumstances.
See bec, I gotta heart after all[
]Thanks for the info Wrap pack. You are right, I got me some corneas.
Thing is though, my Doc said that I could actually reject them at anytime, and the most ‘dicey’ time was when I actually had the second one done. It’s not a huge risk, as in with kidney’s etc., but he said I have to be wary at all times, and if vision changes dramatically etc., to get it checked out straight away! Having said that, it’s 6 years since the first, and 2 since the second, and I’m really happy with the result.
Until you experience it yourself, or know someone who has (or study/work in the area of medicine) I don’t think you really appreciate quite how important being a donor is. I’ve got friends who say ‘I’ll give everything but my eyes’, which is good in one way, but what about the poor bugger who won’t actually die, but will be blind unnecessarily?
Cheers
MelJust a quick note to say that I read in the SMH today that about fifteen thousand people have signed up as organ doners recently[^][:X][^]. Strangely, they attributed this increase as a result of the David Hookes tragedy, and not directly to my personal postings on this site![
][]Valiantwagon you said : “Before you make very childish and silly statements you might want to actually want to research the topic, you can do this my contacting various organ donation societies or the ethics committees of the hospitals that are involved in transplant medicine.”
Talking about silly statements what about your suggestion to contact the above bodies ?
They all have a vested interest to further the cause of organ donation so what kind of answer do you expect you will get ?
I think it is called asking a Dorothy Dix question.
In an ideal world everything would be above board.
Unfortunately this isn’t an ideal world.I will just give a couple of examples which show what the real world is like :
Do you know where many infections are picked up ?
In hospitals, especially in the operating theatre, that is right.
Will the hospital board generally admit to that ?
Hardly. Sofar they find it impossible to deal with it. Often it is actually the surgeon and staff who transfer it from one hospital’s operating theatre to another.
You don’t believe it ?
Well, here is another story. A lady we know is a doctor as is her (now ex-)husband.
The ex-husband is actually an aneasthetist as well as being an absolute alcoholic.When the wife pointed this out to her husband’s colleagues at the hospital they didn’t want to know despite the enormous risk they exposed themselves to of damaging their own career in the event something went wrong.
I think it is called closing rank around one’s mate.
So much for ethics as practiced by (some) doctors.
Pisces
So, pisces, I hear and sympathise with your feelings.
But I think that there are only two questions that you ever have to answer (even if only to yourself)
i) Am I prepared to donate my organs?
ii) If I personally needed an organ in order to live, and one was available, would I want it?All organ doners seem to say a big yes to both. Seems pretty fair, what goes around comes around.
I fully understand and support people who say no to both (but we all know that when the choice becomes death/blindness or receive an organ, they might change their mind!)
And a hell of a lot of people say no to the first, and yes to the second. Methinksthatsjustnotfairnorlogical
I could do with a transplant myself Wrappack so I guess I would say ‘yes’ and ‘yes’ to your two questions.
However I was responding to something else (ethics).
Pisces
I was married to a Reg nurse for about 15 years whom worked every where within the hospital and ended up running one. So thru that I have made many friends in the medical field from orderlies to professors and the stories I have heard still make me cringe.
Yes its more then likely the minority however, what u think u get is not always what u get
[]Regards Bear
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]. Can I donate my organs?
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