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Location: Health Care
Discussion: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
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 Randall_Berger |
"Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 22 2008, 2:13 AM EST Bite the bullet and enact the opt-out, obligatory organ donation scheme, like they have in Europe ... save billions and get all those hundreds of people dying on organ waiting lists back into society. Only one in so many people die under the right circumstances and then things have to happen quickly. Unless the deceased has opted out of the scheme for religious or cultural reasons, the health system should be able to use this final gift. Australia has invested a lot in you over the years … education, health care, social support … why take something so valuable to your grave? Consider it the final Medicare levy. 84 out of 125 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Anonymous |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 25 2008, 6:06 AM EST I agree with the opt out approach too. But education is also important. In many cases relatives and loved ones intervene to prevent organ donation. So we would need to make sure that relatives, etc understand and accept that if someone has not opted out, their organs will be considered for donation. I also like the idea of giving people who have agreed to doante their organs priority over those that havent if they ever need to be put on a waiting list to receive a donation from someone else. 25 out of 25 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Randall_Berger |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 25 2008, 4:01 PM EST "Bite the bullet and enact the opt-out, obligatory organ donation scheme, like they have in Europe ... save billions and get all those hundreds of people dying on organ waiting lists back into society. That whole idea of "next of kin" having some legal guardianship over my body bothers me ... where does it say that? I suspect it is some kind of archaic social custom that nobody has bothered to challenge. For a minor, I agree, because I am the legal guardian of my children, but as an adult, where does it say my wife, children or parents have some sort of legal rights to my body as soon as my last breath is drawn ... or I am brain dead? If they tried that while I was alive, the system would put them in their place. I think this custom should be challenged ... with all due respect ... and my body can be released to them when the system that protected and nurtured me is through with it. I agree, education ... or a few more celebrity "donations" ... will help, but let's clear up the legals, as well. 15 out of 18 found this valuable. Do you? |
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DoubleThinkBlog DoubleThinkBlog |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 25 2008, 10:03 PM EST This is a sick Orwellian idea.. how can you plan to harvest people like crops, it is dehumanising. We are entitled to our bodies and it is one of the most unchallengeable pieces of property over which any individual claims property rights. You have no right to steal other peoples body parts. 4 out of 26 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Randall_Berger |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 26 2008, 12:34 AM EST "This is a sick Orwellian idea.. how can you plan to harvest people like crops, it is dehumanising. We are entitled to our bodies and it is one of the most unchallengeable pieces of property over which any individual claims property rights. You have no right to steal other peoples body parts." You just don't get it, do you. They're not 'stealing' your organs. You are entitled to your body. Nobody says you're not. Just opt out. Yet you demand the health service make your body better, educate it, subsidise its drugs, make sure its well fed, housed and protected ... and when you're ticker starts to go ... your eyes, lungs, kidneys ... you beg the system to make you whole again. You sit on dialysis for years, costing the very same health system millions, until finally you die ... or someone generous enough dies under the right circumstances so you receive their final gift. I think it is incredibly selfish to expect the system to do everything for you and then you take to your grave something that will help up to 9 other people live whole lives again. And save enough $$$ to build a lot of new hospitals! Orwellian? No, maybe Huxleyan ... but when you're dead meat, who would you rather help ... a bunch or worms or maggots or your fellow human beings? I'm not talking about harvesting people like crops ... that is sick ... very few people die under the right conditions anyway ... but who are we stealing the body parts from, anyway? YOU'RE DEAD! Look, if you don't want your organs donated, simply register to opt out. If your religion or culture says your organs can only go to another person of the same ilk, then register that fact. As the law stands, your so called 'next of kin' can go against your wishes to donate your organs, even if you register as an organ donor. I find that sick. We have the health technology and the skill to do the transplants now with great success, but selfish people like you are taking a valuable commodity to the grave or turining it into ashes. I really hope you don't need a transplant one day. Or one of your children. I almost couldn't stand the irony. 21 out of 24 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Anonymous |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 26 2008, 6:55 PM EST This would not work for people of certain religions who must take their entire body to the grave. You would be discriminating against them. That's not a fair go. 8 out of 18 found this valuable. Do you? |
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DoubleThinkBlog DoubleThinkBlog |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 26 2008, 9:34 PM EST Well how about you let me opt-out of the entire medical system.. We would millions of hard working and saving individuals abandon the sinking ship and make their own medical decisions, instead of having the government rob us the economy of 40%-50% of GDP and spending it on ever-increasing budgets for the public sector. 2 out of 17 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Anonymous |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 26 2008, 10:40 PM EST "This would not work for people of certain religions who must take their entire body to the grave. You would be discriminating against them. That's not a fair go." As I said, this system would allow anyone to "opt out" under ground like religion, etc. However, two of the countries where an opt out system has been a complete success are France and Italy, which are heavily Catholic ... who like to be buried whole. I for one would go to my grave with a lighter soul for having given of myself in the ultimate way ... and I would never feel a thing! 15 out of 17 found this valuable. Do you? |
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DoubleThinkBlog DoubleThinkBlog |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Feb 28 2008, 6:07 PM EST I don't agree with you. How can our bodies be "communal" property ? How can they belong to the state ? That means that the government of the day can do what they want with your body. Aren't all you extremists on the left passionate about a woman's right to her body and right to choose and have abortions, - yet you are willing to throw that out the window when it comes to body parts being harvested from the dead ? ? There exists a private market for donating organs once you have passed on. It is done by consenting and voluntary transactions. That is the only way it should be done. Not by force or theft or compulsion. 4 out of 15 found this valuable. Do you? |
 McManly |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Mar 3 2008, 1:34 AM EST I, my wife and my children are all committed as organ donors on our driving licences. Many fear taking that step -- we are all science-trained, and so can look at it dispassionately. Why be greedy and selfish when you can help? An opt-out system lets those who feel they MUST avoid it, but the ones in the middle can do good by doing nothing. 12 out of 13 found this valuable. Do you? |
 Sympneology |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Mar 3 2008, 10:00 AM EST Our bodies are not communal property, dead or alive. People do not belong to the state in a democratic system, the state belongs to the people. That is why those employed by the state are called "public servants", they are there to serve the people. When this basic principle is forgotten is when the nation begins to lapse into fascism or despotism. This is not to say that those elected to parliament cannot enact laws to change from the present opt-in system to an opt-out system, provided they are given a mandate to do so, preferably by a referendum. I and my wife have both registered as organ donors on the Australian Organ Donor Register at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/organ, and until an opt-out system is created I would encourage all others to do the same. 8 out of 11 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Anonymous |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Mar 12 2008, 7:10 AM EDT Let's not get caught up in the details of the scheme, they can easily be worked out. Surely the important point is to raise the profile of the idea as a very simple and relatively cheap solution to a major problem so that it might be included for consideration in the forum. 9 out of 10 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Randall_Berger |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Jun 8 2008, 9:25 PM EDT "Our bodies are not communal property, dead or alive. People do not belong to the state in a democratic system, the state belongs to the people. "Well, I have to agree to disagree with you on this point. The State pays for and regulates just about every aspect of our bodies from the day we are born to the day we die. Health care, education, medicines, law, employment ... why not let them exact their pound of flesh when we cark it ... those organs from your dead husk are worth 100s of 1000s of dollars to the health care system by getting someone off the waiting list. If you want to keep your organs and feed them to the worms or send them up a chimney as even more carbon emissions, that should be your option, but if you don't have an option, your arse should belong to the State .... they paid enough for it! 2 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Sympneology |
RE: "Obligatory" Organ Donation
Jun 9 2008, 5:16 AM EDT "Well, I have to agree to disagree with you on this point.I still maintain that the State belongs to the people. When you say that the "State pays for and regulates just about every aspect of our bodies", where does the State get the money to pay for these things? It gets it from the people, through taxes, rates and charges for services. Look up the meaning of the word 'commonwealth'. If the people, through a referendum, decide that an opt-out system of organ donation would be to the benefit of the community, then the people's elected representatives should enact legislation to authorise the harvesting of organs as a matter of course. Those non-community-minded individuals who still wished to take their organs to heaven would, of course, be free to opt out of the system. Their bodies are still their own, not the State's. 1 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |