Who here has signed their organ donor card?

[lightningandsnow]

My cousin has survived 3 kidney transplants, 2 of which were from unrelated donors. He's now in his 30s and doing very well.

It's one of the most important things you can do.

http://www.organdonor.gov/

I would also encourage all of you to join the bone marrow donor registry (http://www.marrow.org/). Joining is easy and painless, and doesn't even require a blood test.

Since I'm 17 (as of 2 days ago), I'm now old enough to join the bone marrow registry where I live (Canada). I'm on vacation right now, but I'll be doing that as soon as I get home.

I'm also now old enough to donate blood. Which I would definitely encourage you to do if you can.

Please keep this kicked!

[Lasher]

1. Me!

I'm in. Here in WV we just say yes when we obtain or renew our driver's license.

[shireen]

3. same in MD

besides the living will, does there need to be other documentation?

[madrchsod]

yes...

if there`s anything useful left in my old body someone is welcome to it....

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Attorney checking in. Put in a clause about organ donation in your Living Will and

Health Care Proxy so your health power of attorney has the legal authority without a doubt to donate your body according to your wishes. These documents signed, witnessed, and notarized. The card is a good first step. Carry it with you to save to ensure your donation can be carried out anywhere, any time.

[Mike 03]

17. Yes. I don't have the card, as I used to in California, but the Living Will, which I had to

change.

[donco6]

4. Me, but they won't take any of my parts.

Me being gay and all.

I can't even donate blood.

[lightningandsnow]

6. That sucks.

Yeah, I have a real problem with some of the criteria they use to exclude people from donating blood/organs/marrow.

[Lisa0825]

8. They may be able to take some for research....

not all "parts" are taken to be used for transplants. Some may be taken for use in research. I just learned about that when I signed up.

[donco6]

22. That'd be fine with me.

Food for worms versus being useful - not a hard decision, really.

[Lisa0825]

41. You might also check with your nearest medical schools....

Some of them have "willed body" programs, where people can choose to have their bodies used to teach medical students as an alternative to being buried.

[LeftishBrit]

5. k&r and yes I have one.

[Lisa0825]

7. I did! And it was because of a DUer...

I don't remember who it was, but someone has the link http://www.donatelife.net/ in their signature. I clicked on it and signed up online, and they will be mailing me a card and other info.

[Maeve]

9. Both Hubby and I have--and another story

My father-in-law died just before Thanksgiving of a brain aneurysm. MIL, Hubby and SIL agreed he would have wanted anything used that could be, so they did a fairly complete harvest. Others will see, will heal, will live. And it makes MIL pleased to think that a bit of him lives on in those 'gifts'.

[yorgatron]

11. already donated

[renate]

33. I'm sorry about your father-in-law

The family's decision is a lovely tribute to him, knowing as they did that he would have wanted to help others.

[proud patriot]

10. Yes

[Obamanaut]

12. Me. It's marked on driver license. nt

[Spirochete]

13. It's on my drivers license.

Has been for 20 years.

[flvegan]

14. Another one with a marked driver's license.

[Dappleganger]

15. Yes, always been that way. They can have it all because you can't take it with you!

[Mike 03]

16. I'm in the process of changing this now.

My will has me as "not" a donor because I was paranoid that doctors might hasten my death. But having been more involved in the medical community these past two years, I know that was a foolish worry.

So I am now an organ donor.

This is a crucial issue.

[TZ]

18. I'm a donor BUT

Idon't think anything I have is usable..me having a chronic disease and all...however, someday I may need some of that bone marrow on the registry, so please join for people like me....

[mucifer]

24. I know that people who die from cancer often can donate their corneas.

It's great you are on the list.

[Toasterlad]

19. Yes. It's on My Driver's License, and My Family is Fully Aware Of and Will Comply With My Wishes.

Thanks for this reminder to everyone, AspieGrrl. This is very important stuff. Quite frankly, I consider consciously NOT agreeing to donate your organs is the epitome of selfishness. Basically what you're saying is, I would rather my organs rot in the ground than help someone else.

[sentelle]

20. No one can have my organs until I'm done with them.

I don't trust that a doctor, once they see I am on the organ donation list, will take every effort to keep me alive, or to ensure that I am really dead before they take my body parts.

Too much money for doctors in organ transplant surgery for me to be comfortable.

[pitohui]

21. 15 yrs w.out health insurance

and yes that's what made the decision for me to stop signing my driver's license, i don't believe that my life would be perceived of any value, whereas the money to be made by the organ transplant doctors is just too great

i've also heard tales of families being charged for the additional time that the family member is on the machines while awaiting harvest of the organs, 1 more day doesn't sound like so much...until you hear that it's thousands of dollars charged to the family

if i thought my OWN peeps would profit after my death from the sale of my organs (because they ARE sold, the docs, hospitals, and insurance co's aren't doing this for free) then i might feel differently -- but for now -- no, i can't accept the chance that i myself and/or my survivors would be physically or financially harmed because i was trying to help a stranger

they need to make it "worth it"

donate half of the six figures the hospital is making to my survivors and i would sign that organ donor card in a heartbeat...but i do not want them to end up getting hurt financially because i was trying to look like a hero...i don't have to live w. the decision, they do

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

53. Well, you believe wrong

And people may potentially die because of that.

[LisaL]

29. My feelings exactly.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

50. Oh for fucks sake

Ignorant and selfish, what a combo.

[ileus]

23. There's a heart on my drivers....

[jhain]

25. Me

been meaning to join the bone marrow registry- thanks for the nudge.

[mucifer]

26. If anyone is feeling generous you can for 50 dollars go on the bone marrow registry

list. They send you a kit in the mail where you swab the inside of your mouth and send it back in. If you are in a racial minority group there are often bone marrow drives where for free they can put you on the list after taking some mouth swab samples.

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/index.html

[sentelle]

28. And how much...

Does it cost to have your marrow harvested (for lack of a better word) for someone else's use?

Being in the hospital to donate something like marrow still costs money, and insurance companies use it to jack up the cost of ins.

Someone at my job donated bone marrow. Next year, our premiums were made twice the price.

I realise that it seems cruel, but, I am too poor to give anything up, even marrow. I don't want to risk bankruptcy for it.

[renate]

37. it costs a fair amount to register--I think around $50

Although if you're a member of an ethnic group for which there aren't a lot of people registered, you might be able to get the fee waived.

I would bet that the increase in premiums was either coincidental or due to another coworker's condition that you may not have known about, because when I registered I was told that if I were ever contacted to donate marrow there's no cost to the donor (unless, perhaps, there are complications... it didn't occur to me to ask about that).

[blaze]

56. Registration was free through my blood bank

I had no idea it cost to register in some places!

[Skittles]

60. it's free when the blood bank does marrow registry drives

:)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

51. Correlation does not equal causation

:eyes:

[pacalo]

27. It's indicated on my driver's license that I'm an organ donor.

I'll even throw in my eyeglasses for whoever gets my eyes.

[Lugnut]

30. I have.

It's on my driver's license and I have a Living Will.

[BrklynLiberal]

31. Yep. And I am in the Gallon club for blood donors. It is very easy to donate blood.

The bone marrow registry is something I have yet to do.

[4 t 4]

32. k & r

[LeftyMom]

48. Marrow registry's easy, you just do a cheek swab.

You might be able to sign up through your blood bank too. I tried doing it through ours, but they charge for it to cover costs, though sometimes they get grants to cover the testing, especially if you're a member of a minority group that's underrepresented on the list. I did mine for free in the mail via a link somebody posted on DU a few years back.

[Skittles]

61. I just got a 30 gallon pin from Carter Bloodcare

but that's just since I've been in this area; I actually have way more than that :D

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

34. I can't donate.

Not even blood- I'm on some heavy duty arthritis medication that precludes me from it.

:cry:

[Greyhound]

35. Me. K&R

[Skittles]

36. me

I am also on the bone marrow registry and I am a regular platelet donor

[intheflow]

38. Me!

[Sanctified]

39. Until they take the obscene profits out of the Donor system I won't.

It's disgusting how much money the hospital and doctors make off of something that someone freely gives, it's also disgusting that the rich get easy access to organs while the poor are pretty much screwed.

[Gemini Cat]

43. So, you'd let someone die?

Give me a fucking break. I know many people who have received a much needed organ and they were poor.
Organs are given to people who need them to stay alive. Rich or poor it doesn't matter.

[Sanctified]

47. I would take death over participating in the sickness that is our organ donors system. n/t

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

52. That's pretty much what they're saying

My father had an organ transplant and we certainly were not rich.

[Orangepeel]

63. nobody in the United States has "easy" access.

it is true that it is essentially impossible to get approved for a transplant without health insurance -- not only for the cost of the transplant but because of the expensive medication that is necessary afterward. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if everyone had health care costs covered and if there weren't such a shortage of organs.

Perhaps a very rich person could go to another country and purchase an organ at a for-profit hospital. But in the United States, most hospitals are nonprofit and UNOS keeps tight control.

[NashVegas]

40. That's Very Fortunate for Your Cousin

However, organ donation is a very personal decision and the pressure that people are put under is out of line, IMO.

[tomreedtoon]

42. Been on my driver's license for years, but...

...they'll get my kidneys when I'm damn good and done with them. Not that I'm a heavy drinker, but I love diet soda, and I'm not going to give up on it because some kid wants fresh and clean kidneys after I die. Remember, when I die, the world ends.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

44. My dear AspieGrrl!

I have signed my Organ Donor card, and they can have anything they can use once I'm done with this body...

Unfortunately, I am too old now to be in the Bone Marrow Registry; you have to be under 61, I think.

But still, I do what I can.

K&R

:yourock:

[LeftyMom]

45. It's taped to my ID.

Just to make sure it's found if I'm in an accident or something. My various emergency contacts all know I'm a donor, too.

I don't know anybody with a transplanted organ, I'm just anti-waste generally and don't see the point in disposing of bits that still work.

[Fearless]

46. No card in MA, it's on the driver's license... And yes I have.

[Are_grits_groceries]

49. Me! in SC....... nt

[Bertha Venation]

54. Oh, how I wish I could.

Hepatitis C here. :(

[ThomWV]

55. Yes - West Virginia denotes it on the Driver's License

[2Design]

57. yes n/t

[CANDO]

58. I did last summer when I renewed my drivers license.

On December 17th, 2005 a good friend and co-worker died after being involved in a truck accident. He was a fellow truck driver and Teamster brother and he must have drifted off the road and hit an abandoned vehicle along the shoulder. He was pronouced dead the next morning. He was an organ donor. I could not believe the amount of organs and tissue they harvest from a deceased person! For a long time, I never saw myself as an organ donor. I couldn't stand the thought of parts of my body being "harvested". It just seemed wrong. I've since come around to realize the gift of life this represents. If you are gone, it's forever. You will never know the difference. But the many people who benefit from your gift will!

[Orangepeel]

59. the most important thing is to tell your relatives that you want to be a donor

the signed card is good, but your relatives still have to consent. If you are willing to be a donor (and thank you if you are), please make sure that your family knows it.

[City Lights]

62. Me. nt