Re: Organ Donations
Random stuff:
There are about 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in this country.
Every day, 19 of those people die without having received the organ transplant they need.
The organs you can donate to save or enhance someone's life include the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and pancreas. You can also, of course, enhance someone's life by donating eyes/corneas and all kinds of tissues. The total people affected by your donation can reach up to 50 people.
We live in an opt-in society for organ donation. If you don't opt in (driver's license or state registry), it doesn't mean you won't be an organ donor. We will instead ask your legal next of kin for permission.
Approximately 35% of the families we approach (in my region) decline donation. Approximately 50% of the residents in my state who have driver's licenses or state IDs are registered organ donors. However there is a bit of a bell curve based on age. Older people tend not to be registered. Also anyone under 18 who is registered doesn't really count until their 18th birthday.
Registering as an organ donor only counts when you die in a hospital, on a ventilator, and are declared brain dead. If you die by cardiac death (on a vent) then we still must approach your family for permission. If you die in a car wreck on the scene or in a hospital but not on a ventilator then you can't become an organ donor (solid organs... may still be possible for tissues).
|