Donating your organs

[O'Dannyboy]

I too have become an organ donor. As far as the morality of it I beleive it can be based on your intent. I have read were some people have sold a kidney for the cash so they might buy a car or something. I have heard of others donating part of their liver, a lung, or a kidney to save a family member.

We can hope that our death can and will bring life to others. In the end its Gods' will that will determine the candidates future. Perhaps my organ can extent their life long enough for them to accept Jesus as their lord and savior.

For me all I can ask is what more can my organ do that a heartfelt prayer can't?

[hmh]

Donating your organs in of itself is a wonderful idea, especially if for some reason your life is cut short by satan and you end up extending someone else's life through your God given organs. Unfortunately there have been instances where someone with money received a transplant before someone who did not have the money but was in a more serious condition (Larry Hagman, Micky Mantle). Like anything else, there will always be a bad situation that will make an overall good situation look less than what it really is.

[Guest sue2256]

When ever I was asked when I got my license "do you want to donate your organs?" I always replied "no".. I just wasn't sure.

Last march my mom got real sick.. They did all kinds of tests and finally figured out it her liver is severly damaged. She has Auto Immune Hepititis. She has had it for 10 yrs and never knew it. She is on the Donor list for a new liver. Her best hope though is for a live liver donor. I wanted to give her part of mine. But I'm not able. I have Graves disease, it's in remission but they are afraid that the operation would bring it out of remission. So my answer.. You bet ya, I will donate any of my organs if it will help someone else who needs it and save another family from going through what we are.

God Bless

Sue

Edited November 20, 2004 by sue2256

[Fr Chuck]

There is a donor list, and those on the lists gets them first come , first serve.

And anyone that gets them really needs them or they would not get them.

If there were enough to go around, there would not be lists waiting for them.

Now some can not get them because of various reasons, they have no health care Insurance and no money to pay for the hospital surgary. Thier insurance does not pay for certain transplants.

But there are lots and lots of people who do get them. And they that do need them badly.

Dening anyone that gift, because of our heathcare problems in paying for them would be a awlful thing to do.

Does the system need to be changed? yes, but are you and I willing to pay 10 or 20 percent more taxes so that every homeless person can have better health care,

or that every person working will have every medical procedure. Sadly no, we want lower taxes, but more benifits, and it does not happen.

So you donate your parts, knowing that someone, maybe not everyone, but that many will benifit from them.

[Guest fyre_fly]

Thank you all for your responses , they were all very helpful and gave me alot to think about . Now heres another question for those who want to anwser . Would it be improper to write a little note for each organ , giving glory to God for them and instructions for use ... Like if someone got my heart for instance , Use it to love others as the Lord Jesus loved us when he died on the cross and so on ? These are serious thoughts I would like to use if it's possible . Let me know what you all think .

[ayin jade]

I do not know if that is possible. The rules state that there has to be anonymity in donation. However you can probably ask someone about that at a local hospital that does transplants or even website like the Heart Association.

As far as donating organs and the list. The variables that I know of are how well it matches the recipient, current health of recipient (whether or not they are stable enough), distance between donor and recipient. I have to admit, that I have wondered about celebrities getting organs, if they are bumped up the list. I dont think it is money though, but rather, "advertising" for organ donation. That is only my guess.

On the subject of donations........has anyone considered being a bone marrow donor? That is done while you are living and can save someone with leukemia from dying. Contact your local blood bank and ask. Of course giving blood is good too. So helpful in saving lives.

[irishcowboy]

I was considering becoming an organ donor . When I told a few people of my decision , thay said it was a bad idea because the ones who really need them , don't get them , that they go to the ones that can afford them . Is this true ?  Thanks a lot for any input .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have thought of this from time to time,

if a person that is a follower of Christ donates an organ ( no matter what organ it is ) ...... the persons receiving the organs may not be Christian, is that donated organ now covered? from the originator? and if so, does that cover the recipient? or is the recipient not covered by the organ they are carrying in side them.....

now, here is a thought too..... those dead in Christ shall rise andbe taken up, followed by those that are alive...... what happens to all those donated organs???

will they all of a sudden disappear from the recipients that are non-followers????

kind of like those that have been cremated, wouldn't you like to see the sky filled with all those little pieces of ashes as they accend from the ground and the sea? that would be a sight in itself, as they reassemble themselves into people.....

one way to have it set up, is for family members.... or ... maybe even have it specified that you want your donated organs to be used for children, or, maybe for a specific purpose.....

your right, those with the money tend to get the organs, over those that dont have the money...... in a case like this, we can not get too upset, for we have to remember where our focus needs to be......

one famous person, ( a ball player ) received two livers, the first one failed, and then a second one was put in, and it failed and then the man died anyways...... this man was not even a good candidate, age and health and such, was a drinker and such, and the chance of the liver surviving was slim anyways.... now, that is two livers that some one else could have used that might have been successful.....

this mans liver failed because of fault of his own... thru his own sinful retrobate life..... why could not have those two livers gone to a young child that had their liver destroyed thru no fault of their own......

no one said life was fair.... no one said life was easy... but God does have it all under control.....

if you wish to donate your organs... then I would say do it... and if you can place conditions on it, then do it if you wish......

some things to keep in mind as to who gets to have the organ might also be time and distance....... if the distance is too great, or the time frame from removal to insertion is too great, the organs chances of staying alive is slimmer......

if a liver is taken from a person in Oregon, and a person in Virginia is the next on the list, and the liver matches, but the distance is too great to get the liver there in time, then a person in closer proximity will be more apt to get it, even thou they might be 10th on the list......

I hope some of these posts do help you decide.....

mike

[Leonard]

I'm not sure of the essential morality of treating humans like used cars; complete with 'factory replacement parts!' Isn't this materialist view of mankind the very reason why we have abortion, euthanasia, and a host of other moral ills.

L'homme Machine makes for a truly terrifying world.

[other one]

I have friends and acquaintances, both at work and other places that have had transplants, and it is not due to money. I do know of a couple of instances where notable people were put a the top of a list which should not have.

Mickey Mantle received a liver that should have gone to a cousin of mine and it caused much heartache at the time....

Others that I know have received hearts and kidney's that they did not have the money to pay for the operations and the state picked up the tab.

It is too complicated to put into a single simple way of deciding.

As for the morality of it..... just make sure I'm dead and who cares. I am not too fond of this body anyway. If He can make a body of the ashes from cremation, He can whip up a spare heart, kidney, liver or whatever when the time comes, that is assuming we will actually need them in the first place.

[Leonard]

Of course we in the West have forgotten that God said the body was 'good.' It is made by God. When--because of a terrible misunderstanding of Paul's references to 'the flesh'--we disrespect the body, we are really behaving in accordance with gnosticism and not Christianity.

Still, the essential immorality which may exist in the transplantation of organs is just that it reduces man to the level of a machine. Perhaps a very clever one, but still just a machine. This is to lose the truly human.