skyflyingbecca 0 #1 September 28, 2004 Hey everybody, Please cast a vote, this is my first thread and it would suck if it fizzles.... We were talking about this in the women's forum and it was suggested I bring the donor requirements & stats over here. Copyright Mosby’s Paramedic Textbook UNOS Transplant Statistics Every 16 minutes a new name is added to the national transplant waiting list. As of January 23rd, 2000, the waiting list was: Type of Transplant ---- Patients waiting for Transplant Kidney ---------------- 44,031 Liver ------------------ 14.514 Pancreas -------------- 8233 Pancreas islet cell ------ 182 Kidney-pancreas ------- 961 Intestine -------------- 117 Heart ----------------- 4063 Heart-lung ------------- 224 Lung ------------------ 3590 TOTAL ---------------- 67,050* Some patients are waiting for more than one organ. Each day about 55 people receive organ transplants, There are two types of donations: Vital Organ: Heart, Liver, Kidneys, Lungs, and Pancreas Nonvital Tissue: Bones, Tendons, Heart Valves, Saphenous Veins (used for bypass surgery), etc. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR VITAL ORGAN DONATION - Declaration of brain death by a licensed physician - Stable blood pressure and heart rate (possible with proper CPR) - Age: newborn to 70 years - No active infection - No malignancies (except brain tumors) GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR NONVITAL TISSUE DONATION - Donation possible from 6 to 24 hours after heartbeat has ceased - Age: 3 months to 70 years - No active infection - No malignancies (except brain tumors) "I know it's friday night, but come on. Surely there's something better to do than yell at people on the internet?" - Tom A. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #2 September 28, 2004 I've got a feeling there is a donor section on either the BPA or FAI form I filled in to get my license... don't remember 100% Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mouth 0 #3 September 28, 2004 I am a donor and my family has been informed. I've also told them I want to be cremated and my ashes released on a jump. They weren't too crazy about that since all "good Southern Baptists" (even though I'm not a Baptist just my family is) have the big funeral thing with the casket and flowers and cemetary burial and all that crap. You all remind them if they loose their minds. I think it would be great to actually help someone long after I'm dead and gone. I'm not much help now because I faint when I go to give blood so they won't let me give. -- Hot Mama At least you know where you stand even if it is in a pile of shit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peej 0 #4 September 28, 2004 I sat down and had this chat with my parents a while back, we all agreed that if any of us go and our organs can be used to help someone else we're all for it. The same goes if there is a terrible (God forbid) accident and one of us ends up on life support. We've all said that they are to be turned off. I think it would be mucho cool to help save a life after i'm gone. PJ Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
txblondie 0 #5 September 28, 2004 It's not that I wouldn't love to help someone; it's that I have health problems that make my organs non-donatable (if that's a word). At the same time, I also would give anything they would take, I have signed a DNR so that I don't end up a vegetable on life support, and I also want to be cremated. So, if there is anything I can give (I guess I'd have to speak to a doctor to find out), I would be glad to do so. ***************************************** Blondes do have more fun! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #6 September 28, 2004 I've got an organ donor emblem on my drivers license and its also listed on my Mil ID... so even if no one knew I was an organ donor it would be a very simple task to find out... Frankly, when I die... I kinda figure that I'm not gonna need my organs any more so someone else might as well use them. Scott Of course if it turns out I'm wrong and I do need them in the next life I suppose I'll be SOL. -----------------------------------------------------------Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunshine 2 #7 September 28, 2004 They can take everything but my eyes. The thought of someone having my eyes freaks me out. ___________________________________________ meow I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlindBrick 0 #8 September 28, 2004 QuoteThey can take everything but my eyes. The thought of someone having my eyes freaks me out. Not bashing you, but trying to provide another side to the story. Because two donors were willing to donate thier corneas, I can now see again. Though I will never know who they were, I will forever be grateful to them for their generosity. -Blind"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 14 #9 September 28, 2004 Man, what a cool story. Someone very close to me is alive because of blood donors. Organ donations can save many more. They can have anything they want from me, but I thinking the liver might be a little "high mileage." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #10 September 28, 2004 Donor. Don't have the sticker on my license, but don't need it. My family is so pro organ donation that there wouldn't be any question. My Aunt Karen is on the list for a heart transplant, so we all know how important it is. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LongWayToFall 0 #11 September 28, 2004 Quote At the same time, I also would give anything they would take, I have signed a DNR so that I don't end up a vegetable on life support, and I also want to be cremated. Why would you have a DNR? if you fell into a pool and drowned, wouldnt you want to be brought back? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #12 September 28, 2004 I hope you're talking about an advance directive or living will rather than a DNR. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
txblondie 0 #13 September 28, 2004 That's different... A DNR simply means that, if I have to be on life support to maintain my breathing or bodily functions, I do not want to be brought back, and if by chance I am put on that life support, I want it discontinued as soon as possible. It doesn't mean that, if my brain can still function, such as after drowning, I don't want CPR. There are also different degrees of DNR's that you can sign; mine simply refuses life support systems. I don't want to be a vegetable, and I don't want to be a burden on my family. They are aware of this. ***************************************** Blondes do have more fun! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
txblondie 0 #14 September 28, 2004 QuoteI hope you're talking about an advance directive or living will rather than a DNR. It's all in a package together for me; my DNR serves as an advanced directive, and is part of my living will. ***************************************** Blondes do have more fun! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccurley 0 #15 September 28, 2004 Don't have the sticker on my license, but don't need it*** How about if your travelling and the circumstances arrise where your family can't be contacted? Would be a shame to have the organs not used if it is your wish that they be used. Far fetched perhaps? Perhaps not.Watch my video Fat Women http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflajankie 0 #16 September 28, 2004 I am a donor! Take it all, it's not like I will be using it any more. What I don't understand is people who are not willing to donate, but then they think it's alright to accept for example a kidney. How do these people justify that? AnkieSkydivers are a bunch of insensitive jerks... And that's why I don't skydive anymore! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #17 September 28, 2004 wouldn't make a bit of difference. Even though hospitals technically can harvest organs without next of kin permission, in practice, they do not. " There are laws that allow for organ recovery without family consent if the potential donor has a signed donor card or permission noted on their driver’s license. In practice, however, this is not done. Donation is always discussed with the family. They need to feel comfortable with the decision to donate, so it is very important to talk to your family about your wishes regarding donation." source: Pacific Northwest Transplant Bank "In 1986 legislation was passed which required all hospitals to develop protocol to ask the next of kin for permission to procure the organs of the patient at the time of impending death. This is why it is so important to discuss donation with your family when you register as an organ donor so they will know your wishes. " -Int'l Assn for Organ Donation Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
canopycandy 0 #18 September 29, 2004 In Ohio they can, thanks to the Ohio Donor Registry Law. "Senate Bill 188 (2000): The Ohio Legislature passed Senate Bill 188, signed into law by Gov. Bob Taft on Dec. 13, 2000, establishing a statewide donor registry by July 2002. The new law requires the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to establish and maintain a registry of donors, enabling organ, tissue and eye procurement organizations to have access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Under this law, an individual's registration as a donor is established as an advanced directive to recover organs. In addition to establishing the registry, the law ensures that public education about the need to register a personal decision concerning organ and tissue donation will be increased. The law will also enable organ and tissue recovery agencies to learn of an individual's decision on their driver's license or state I.D. as an advanced directive and proceed with the recovery of organs." One of the families that pushed this law through had a son who was injured in a car accident. Though this guy had every intention of being an organ donor -- and even though he was one of the small percentage of people who could, since he was brain dead -- the hospital could not reach his parents, who were on vacation, so they didn't procure his organs. His family still feels like his death was wasted. I'm also in total support of this law, since my family doesn't believe in organ donation ... and I do 100 percent. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamjenner 0 #19 September 29, 2004 mine are up for grabs. except for my lungs and heart (since i smoke) so they wouldn't be any good to anyone. but everything else is there for the taking. Lets just hope it doesn't happen like in monty pythons meaning of life when the organ collectors come to the house when you're still alive But i'd rather donate my organs. heck if i'm dead might as well use them to let someone else live right? no sense in letting them go to waste. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
canopycandy 0 #20 September 29, 2004 You're absolutely right. Plus, I've seen firsthand the good that organ donation can do. As a journalist, I wrote weekly articles about a 17-year-old boy who was waiting for a new heart. He was sick, depressed and stuck in a tiny hospital room for seven months when he should have been enjoying his senior year of high school. I had no idea if the series would end in a celebration or a funeral. Thankfully, it ended with him receiving the gift of a new heart. I was in the operating room with him and watched as his old, weak, enlarged heart was removed from his body and replaced with a vibrant, colorful one. It was amazing. Shortly after the series ended, a 7-year-old boy died the day after Christmas during an accident on his new sled. The family decided to donate his organs because of the articles I had written, and they asked me to write about the process of donation from their perspective. Kyle was a caring, loving little boy, and even in death he was a hero. He gave a handful of people a second chance at life and helped several others with the donation of his corneas and tissue. Plus, the family gained so much from the experience, knowing that their son was able to give such a great gift to so many others. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #21 September 29, 2004 The laws are in place in most states to allow them to harvest organs without contacting next of kin... thing is, hospitals still won't do it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallinWoman 1 #22 September 29, 2004 Skymedic and I are donors, and our families know it. (You might have already figured that out if you read the thread in the women's forum...) Sunshine.....why are you freaked about them taking your eyes? They don't take the whole thing, so it is not like someone could look into another person's face and see you....they take the corneas and the goo on the inside of the eye. I wouldn't want to donate my eyes if i thought that they took the whole eye ball. I have distinctive freckles in my left eye. But that is not what they take. I am just amazed through all of this to learn all that can be used by others. Tendons, bones, organs....I am amazed at what science has discovered. Please take what you can if I die. However I die. Whenever I die. At that point I just won't need it anymore. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymedic 0 #23 September 29, 2004 QuoteThe laws are in place in most states to allow them to harvest organs without contacting next of kin... thing is, hospitals still won't do it. What states? and since when? Marc otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #24 September 29, 2004 http://www.transweb.org/qa/asktw/answers/answers9601/Donorsrighttodonate.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
