Thoughts about Organ Donors?

I, myself am an organ donor. I was watching a show on tv the other night
(can't remember the name) but he/she got sent to the hospital and they
were too worried about getting her organs than saving her life! ( I know,
I know...its TV). Anyway, it got me thinking about being an organ donor.
You nurses know more probably than I do, do you all have any facts or
information about being an organ donor? I think I was 15 (the age to get a
learners permit) and I asked my mom what was an organ donor and she said
"If your cousin was dying and you were able to save their life, would
you?" I said "Uh...yeah" she said "Okay then, check the box" so I did not
think twice about it. I guess now that i'm older it has got me wondering.
I've tried to research but I always read something different. If I were
rushed to the hospital I hope the doctors would be worried more about
saving my life than getting my organs.



Anyway...how do you feel about being an organ donor? Why or why aren't you one? Lastly, does anyone have any facts about organ donors? I read the
terms of service and didn't see anything that said I couldn't discuss
this, the only thing I seen is that medical advice is not allowed.

Thanks everyone!
This is the organization in our area that handles organ donation, they have a lot of information on their site.http://www.donors1.org/I personally I am an organ donor because I feel like if I don't need them and someone else can you use them, then they can have them.To address what you saw on TV, it is a total myth. In fact it is quite the opposite. A lot of work goes into keeping potential organ donors alive because as long as the patient is alive, the best chance for procurement.

Yes I am.. I am also not worried about a Dr "not" saving my life just to be a donor.. Restrictions are heavy and in most cases the donor has had brain death. Many that are donors never actually get to donate organs because of sudden death, drug use, life style, medical history etc.. But they can still donate tissue, eyes, skin etc.. I really wished more people understood what donation was and was not so more would/could donate.. Until a few years ago if a person was an organ donor, it was still left up to the family to give the final yes or no in my state.. It can be a touchy subject.

You say in your post that you realize it was TV....keep remembering that, because in NO way, in real life, would anyone NOT try harder to save your life because you are an organ donor. There are strict criteria that determines brain death (which would have to occur in order to donate your heart, for example; if you suffer cardiac arrest you can no longer donate your heart). Brain death is not something that is a "maybe," or "most likely." If you are brain dead, you are dead, and you don't overcome or survive it. If you are NOT brain dead, you will be treated and every effort will be made to save your life. In fact, the issue of whether or not you are a donor likely won't even be raised unless the potential to donate is imminent. Thank you for choosing to be a donor. I am the type that doesn't understand why anyone would choose NOT to, but I know many don't. For me, if I'm no longer using my lungs or my heart or my kidneys, why shouldn't someone else get the chance?Your fear is an understandable one, but please know that it isn't true.

The medical team working on you to save your life is not the team that would be there to work on organizing and procuring your organs and tissue donations.

I work in nephrology, mostly dialysis. So, I work with transplant pts. Being a donor is a no-brainer for me - yes. Then, there are living donors, someone who donates an organ, like a kidney or part of a liver. This process also produces more organs.

Absolutely we go for saving you. Organ donation is a distant second. We don't know if you are or not, or many times if you would be a candidate for the major organs. Donation decisions come after death (brain death), not before.One of my Scouts actually asked me that a few years ago, said the big rumor in the high schools was for teenagers in accidents were automatically considered for donors before saving lives. I told him we fight harder and longer on kids/teens, sometimes beyond reason because it is so traumatic to lose young people.

Quote from traumaRUsBeing a donor is a no-brainer for me - yes.

I'm not. Bad personal experience with a family member and what I've observed on the job. Just my personal opinion- nothing against someone who wants to be an organ donor.

I'm an organ donor, I think I have been since I started driving. Honestly I think I checked the box just to get the $4 discount at 16yo (its comical now). Of course as I gained a wider view of the world, had children, and started pursuing nursing it solidified my reason to be an organ donor. If I can benefit someone else by them having a random organ that I have no need for (i.e. being braindead), then by all means they are welcome to have it. They are already using a persons own stem cells to grow and then transplant tracheas, heart valves, ears, and cartilage, along with skin and other things, Organ donation might even be obsolete within the next 30 years.

I was 22 when my first husband died and I agreed to donate his organs. During the holiday season I was depressed because I was alone and my two young sons were without a father.Then one day I received a letter from the organ donation society. It was forwarded from the families of the man that had received my husbands liver. It told me of man who was near death until his transplant, his family resigned to life without him and how he was now able to live because of my selfless action.From that day forward I have been an organ donor and have changed he mind of most of my family as well..Hey, I don't need them where I'm going!!

I'm a registered organ donor, and used to work for the organ donation agency in my state. My mother was an organ donor, she suffered a sudden and tragic brain death at a young age. When we were approached about donation, there was no question in our minds that she would have wanted to help others - it's just the kind of person she was.The thing is, no one working in a hospital caring for an acutely ill patient typically knows weather or not that person is an organ donor until the question is raised (as in when everything possible has been done to try and save that person, and all attempts have failed). When you are admitted to the hospital, you are not asked if you are an organ donor. If you are brought in by ambulance from a car wreck, no one is attempting to look through your wallet to find out if you are a registered donor. Unless one of my patients were to tell me they were a donor, I would have no way of knowing that. You are not branded with this information, and it would never be used against efforts to save your life.As a previous poster mentioned, the staff that handles organ donation is a completely separate entity from hospital staff. Hospital staff will only contact these people when brain death has occured, and they do so in every case, because it is the organ procurement agency that will approach the family to find out if the patient was a donor, not the hospital staff. The fear that efforts will not be made to save you if you are an organ donor is a common MYTH.

Thank you everyone for your responses! You all have deff. cleared it up for me! Thank you!Canesdukegirl- thank you for explaining it to me! Makes much more sense!