Organ Donations

[mdemaz]

I won't be surprised if organ donors become obsolete within 50 years, I bet there will be a way to just 'make' a heart or kidney in a lab. Aren't they already doing similar with ears and fingers?

This shit is already going on right now.

But, it will take a while before it's introduced.

The body is so damn complicated though, if they do eventually manage to find a way to do that then...just, fucking hats off to humanity.

I'd much rather see immortality become a reality in 50 years instead. There's nothing in science that say's it's impossible. Nanotechnology and cybernetics will eventually transform humanity into a type 1 civilization.

[mdemaz]

As for organs, who fucking needs them.

For now, as long as we are still incapable of incredible things, we have to stick with the basics. It's feasible to suggest that you may be able to transplant your own brain to a new younger body using your DNA and still retain your consciousness by a series of really complex techniques involving computers. It's gonna be really expensive at first, eventuality, they will make the human body a computer, basically.

Anyways, I've already stated my opinion on organ donations, so, I'm out.

[yoshi]

Fuck yeah, they can take whatever they need, cremate the rest and pour it off on some tropical beach or if not possible on Polish coast.

I donate blood and it honestly doesn't cost shit, except for few hours, and I get a free blood test, quick check-up, orange juice and lots of free chocolate - what's more to ask? Plus, you get to save someone's life. You won't ever meet them, but you can be damn sure they make a good use of your 450 ml of blood. Same goes for bone marrow donors, I haven't registered yet, but I think I'm gonna do it.

As for my organs after death.. Doubt they'd make a good use of my liver, but who knows.. Yeah, saving lifes is awesome and after death you don't need anything (except maybe huge balls, because when the judgement day comes, we all gonna have to find some damn good excuses.. ) and personally, I'd rather have people have a good time at my funeral, get high and tell funny stories about me, even if instead of a big ass coffin there was only a small plain urn with my ashes.

[Willy]

I don't have any need for my organs when I'm dead (logic). They could really help someone out that's in a pickle, and I'm a compassionate person (love). On the other hand, I hate the human race and wouldn't help a child out if he was drowning in a well (rebellion). Mostly because when i was young I was rarely helped out. I had to figure shit out on my own. I had a backyard the size of a kitchen table and an imagination. I befriended ladybugs and grasshoppers. I built things. This was back when America was the land of the free. Not the land of the free coffee with the purchase of a super value meal. I miss that America. I miss... that.... America.

[Solace]

Yeah I signed that paper a couple years ago and I'm 100% okay with it. But if someone isn't, I don't really care. It's their organs. It's the most personal thing they can own.

[PrettyFly]

I'm totally fine with donating my organs when I die, guess that has something to do with the fact that I'm an atheist, I really don't give a shit bout what happens to my body when I'm dead, cause I mean, I'm dead anyway, am I not? I too don't get the fuzz about funerals too, I mean, what are they good for? My dead body is sure not grateful for getting buried, cause it is dead... Why not just burn the bodies so they are out of the way and done? And I too wouldn't care who would get my organs, it should be given to the one who is in need for it the most.
just my 2Ct

sorry for the language, still learning english

[monobloss]

Fuck the human race tbh. My organs gonna rot with me.

[TheBoss123]

im an organ donor and i do think it would be good if most people were, those organs can save a lot of lives. However I dont feel anyone is really obligated, i dont think it makes you a bad person or anything if you dont want too.

[mezee]

I signed up to be an organ donor years ago but I understand if people don't feel comfortable. I used to be weirded out by the idea until I lost a classmate in a car accident. He was an organ donor and he was able to save eight lives by donating and I don't know, it kind of made the loss seem more purposeful. It was something that helped a lot of us heal and it really changed my perspective on organ donation.

[Epidemik]

I know someone who was very close to dying due to a bad accident. Anyway, he's convinced that the paramedics stopped trying to save him on the way to the hospital once they realized he was an organ donor. Maybe he was just being paranoid... but food for thought.

[yoda you can call me]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 66892.html

Doctors need your brain - and growing demand from researchers has led to calls to approve donations despite relatives' opposition

Medical researchers should be allowed to take the brains of deceased patients regardless of the wishes of relatives, a new study has suggested. In a bid to ensure more brains are made available to British researchers in the battle against neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, doctors and coroners should have more power to approve brain donations for research despite protests from family members.

The concern is that declines in the numbers of post-mortem examinations in the UK will result in an “inability to secure brains and brain tissue” for the vital research into such diseases. Medical scientists have particular difficulties obtaining unaffected or “normal” brain tissue, which acts as a necessary control in the disease investigations.

“Without sufficient quantities of both ‘diseased’ and ‘normal’ tissue, there is a real risk that research, which relies on numbers of statistical significance and control data, will be stifled or might lead to incorrect conclusions and improper solutions,” the new paper, published in the Medical Law Review, warns.

The authors, Shawn Harmon and Aisling McMahon from Edinburgh University, say the decline is due to factors such as the organ retention scandals of the 1990s at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Li verpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Following the scandals, the Human Tissue Act 2004 and Human Tissue Scotland Act 2006 were established to protect the rights of deceased individuals and their families. The acts regulate the handling of human tissue in the UK.

Under current guidelines, brain tissue donations are made when an individual decides to donate and records their wishes formally and their relatives are aware and engaged. In other instances, an individual makes no decision about donation or fails to inform anyone of their wishes, and their relatives are approached after their death.

However, according to the Edinburgh researchers, some relatives object to donating the brain to the point where they can override the deceased’s own reported wishes. The researchers argue that the public good in helping solving brain diseases should mean that in the event that no known donation wishes have been expressed by the deceased before death, doctors and coroners “should consent to donation for research … and be able to trump most objections raised by the family in other situations”.

They argue that the priorities of society are becoming equally if not more prevalent than those of the family of the deceased. The total cost for brain disorders in the UK in 2010 was approximately £109bn. In 2012, the Neurological Alliance warned that the NHS was facing a “neurology time bomb” as the UK’s ageing population continues to live longer with brain-related diseases.

Dr Harmon said: “We need to recognise that there are several interested parties [with brain donations] and our argument is that the party with the strongest interest is actually the public, and that the way things operate now doesn’t recognise the interest that the public has. It may not be about giving doctors and others the power to veto what families want, but there does need to be a more open conversation about what interest the public has.”

Professor Seth Love, director of the MRC UK Brain Banks Network, said the arguments raised were simply unfeasible and could create a level of distrust between brain banks and the public. “I just don’t think it would work, particularly as the coroners and doctors would be very anxious about upsetting the next of kin. I understand the arguments, but I just don’t see that this would end up being acceptable.”
Grey matters

Under the Human Tissue Act 2004, there must be written consent before donating a brain. This can be provided long before death, by an individual contacting a local brain bank; just before death, by being given to a doctor; or after death by the relatives of the deceased person.

The brain needs to be removed within 72 hours of the person’s death as the tissue will begin to deteriorate without a blood supply, making it unusable for research.

Dr Sue Lishman, president elect of the Royal College of Pathologists, explained that these are conducted much like any other procedure. “It’s like the final surgical operation,” Dr Lishman said. “People are treated with the same level of respect as if they were in an operating theatre having surgery.”

The retrieved brain is divided in two; one section is stored in formalin for neuropathological diagnosis, while the other is frozen and stored at minus 80°C in the brain bank. In some cases, some of the spinal cord is also removed. Researchers contact the brain bank in order to receive small samples of the specific type of brain tissue they require.

The UK has 10 brain banks, some of which are linked to research charities. In 2013, more than 700 brains were banked. The tissue they store is available to researchers all over the world

[Hadez]

Yep I'm a donor. No reason not to. I'm dead and I don't believe in an afterlife so "taking them with me" is not even in question. Sure there is a chance that someone that doesn't deserve my goods will get it, but there's also that chance that I save someone that matters. That kid that lives with their single parent and it's all that kid has. I could save the parent and the kid is forever thankful for everything they have. Powerful stuff, if you ask me.