Organ Donation and Healthcare

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I don't understand how people who are for free public healthcare can be against mandatory organ donation. During life we are expected to give a portion of our income and therefore our time and labor to improve the health of the less fortunate. Yet when we die, we are not required to give our organs(which have no other value) to actually save lives. Isn't this inconsistent?

Discuss.

 

[GenMarshall]

I am against doing something that I am forced to do against my will in regards to my body.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I am against doing something that I am forced to do against my will in regards to my body.

But you will be dead and have no will at all. Furthermore during life your body is forced (indirectly) to be used for the government.

 

[GenMarshall]

But you will be dead and have no will at all. Furthermore during life your body is forced (indirectly) to be used for the government.

Not according to anyone's will who choses NOT to be forced to have their organs transplanted after death. It does not matter if I am dead so long as I have a legal document (Will) stating that I wish to eather be buried or cremated without my body being forcefully into organ donations.

Also, don't forget that some cultures and religions dont like the idea of having their organs transplanted (IIRC, The Jehovah's Witnesses were one of them)

Anyway, we live in a Federal Republican Government that grants us the right to refuse to donate our organs at death. Forcing people who do not want their bodies harvested for organ donation would essentially take away right to decide what we want to do with our own bodies after death.

 

[nivi]

Forcing to donate organs is wrong, what isn't wrong is to force people to opt-out instead of opting-in organ donation. Make it something like the DMV where it takes a whole day just to fill some forms, then only the people who really care will do it, the rest will be to lazy.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Not according to anyone's will who choses NOT to be forced to have their organs transplanted after death. It does not matter if I am dead so long as I have a legal document (Will) stating that I wish to eather be buried or cremated without my body being forcefully into organ donations.

You are now using different definition of the word 'will.' We were talking about 'will' as in desire or wish not as in a legal document.

Also, don't forget that some cultures and religions dont like the idea of having their organs transplanted (IIRC, The Jehovah's Witnesses were one of them)

So? It is against my culture to pay taxes but I still have to.

Anyway, we live in a Federal Republican Government that grants us the right to refuse to donate our organs at death.

Show me in the Constitution where it says that rights are maintained after death.

Forcing people who do not want their bodies harvested for organ donation would essentially take away right to decide what we want to do with our own bodies after death.

Yes it would. The question is why should we have that right? Many lives would be saved if we didn't.

 

[Verge]

So? It is against my culture to pay taxes but I still have to.

Poor analogy. By nature, the government cannot satisfy all belief systems. It can, however, make an effort to do so in a very broad fashion. Organ donations fall within this category, since the right to choose what happens to one's organs is something the vast majority of people and belief systems approve of.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Poor analogy. By nature, the government cannot satisfy all belief systems. It can, however, make an effort to do so in a very broad fashion. Organ donations fall within this category, since the right to choose what happens to one's organs is something the vast majority of people and belief systems approve of.

I am not sure a vast majority of people believe in voluntary organ donation. Anyway I hope you can think of several examples in history where what the majority of people approve is not the right thing.

 

[GenMarshall]

You are now using different definition of the word 'will.' We were talking about 'will' as in desire or wish not as in a legal document.

I'm not using a different definition . Get your reading comprehension straight.

If youre unaware, a Will (the legal document that I am refering to) would guarente that my body wont be harvested against my will.

 

[Verge]

I am not sure a vast majority of people believe in voluntary organ donation.

I don't have any statistics on hand. But I should amend what I said that majority of people in the US would not want a mandatory organ donation system. The recent discussion of such an issue in Europe is a good example of the contentiousness of such a plan. More on that at the end of this post.

Anyway I hope you can think of several examples in history where what the majority of people approve is not the right thing.

I never made a value qualification of either your opinion or the majority's. I'm simply pointing out current trends.


As for the recent European debate on the issue of organ donations, I can definitely see the usefulness of an "opt-out" system in contrast to the current American "opt-in" system. An "opt-out" system would mean that a person's organs are always considered available for transplants unless that person explicitly requested that they be left alone. This will allow medical organizations to respect the rights of certain belief systems while getting the organs of people who would have otherwise never bothered to opt-in, or those who were apathetic on the issue of organ donations and wouldn't have cared about what happened to their organs after death.

It's also possible to modify the above plan into a "soft opt-out" system like Spain currently has, which allows the immediate relatives of a deceased person to withhold the person's relatives even if the person in question never explicitly opted-out.

 

[JollyRoger]

Just make public healthcare contigent on signing over your organs at death.

 

[GenMarshall]

Just make public healthcare contigent on signing over your organs at death.

If that were the case, I'd refuse public heathcare because I don't want my body harvested for organs after my death.

 

[emzie]

I never understood why someone who opts out of organ donation can receive an organ.

 

[Verge]

I never understood why someone who opts out of organ donation can receive an organ.

Well, many people who choose to opt-out wouldn't want to receive an organ transplant either. Jehovah's Witnesses are one such group of people.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I'm not using a different definition . Get your reading comprehension straight.

If youre unaware, a Will (the legal document that I am refering to) would guarente that my body wont be harvested against my will.

You can't have any will at all(original definition) when you are dead... because you are dead.

Just make public healthcare contigent on signing over your organs at death.

We have a winner.

 

[DaveShack]

Even if consent was received (or not withheld) from every potential donor, there would probably still be a shortage. Too few deaths occur under circumstances that organ donation is even possible.

Maybe the solution found in some Niven's "Known Space" books would be helpful.

 

[ArneHD]

I have nothing against it, I'll be DEAD, I'm not in any position to complain. My family might complain though, the funeral is for them after all, not for the dead.

 

[GenMarshall]

You can't have any will at all(original definition) when you are dead... because you are dead.

However, I can ensure that my dead body does not get harvested after I am dead through a legal document. By default, I am opped out of having my body from being harvested for organs and I expect to have that remain after I am dead.

Mandatory organ donation just sound way too unethical to me. I want access to healthcare that does NOT involve mandatory organ donations. Having a mandatory healthcare just cries out totalitarianism and a breach into the rights of the individual on what he or she wants to do with her body.

If I don't consent to having my body harvested for organs, I expect to have my dead body to be left undesturbed.

We have a winner.

Well, I can assure you that it wont fly. I myself do NOT want my body to be harvested for organs after death.

 

[Arwon]

Even if consent was received (or not withheld) from every potential donor, there would probably still be a shortage. Too few deaths occur under circumstances that organ donation is even possible.

Maybe the solution found in some Niven's "Known Space" books would be helpful.

That's not really true, countries like Spain with opt-out systems have much shorter waiting lists.

 

[holy king]

i dont understand why i should care what happens to my body after my death anyway... stop being so irrational...