Question on organ donation (as in body parts...) legal type question

[justin_tx_16]

Your comment above did however raise another question in me. As obvious as it is (different laws in different states), I immediately wondered then what would happen if I signed the forms in my state but died while on vacation in another state with different laws...

As I understand it, you generally follow the laws of the state you are visiting. Much like a traffic law. If it is legal for drivers to drive w/o a seatbelt in Texas, but not in Oklahoma, as soon as they cross the border they better buckle up. Whether you signed the contract in one state or another wouldn't matter, it happened where it happens and that's the law there.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, I just listen to This Week in Law every week :-P

[Coytee]

Was thinking about this situation as I was driving home today. Had an intersting thought cross my head.

I could see how anyone might (would?) be taken aback at what seemed to have happened here with their insensativity. I get that.

I could ALSO see how 10 years from now, how interesting it might feel if this family then met a fine young man/gal who might have the beating heart of their son inside them.

Here stands before them someone who is carrying around a part of their son that was working perfectly well the last time they saw their son (up until the plug was pulled) and it was salvaged and reinstalled into this person who today, might not be here but for it.

I could see a very interesting bond between someone like this who then watches this person walk away with something in them that was so close to them while their son was alive.

As I thought about this, I got to thinking that if anyone in my family ever donated anything, I would almost want it stipulated that the condition to do so is that I meet the recipient afterwards.

I don't mean to take this next comment off topic but... I'm sitting on the floor of my living room as I'm typing this. My wife has let her sisters dog inside and the dog is laying behind me. [&]

The darn dog just farted and whoooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it smells [+o(]. I think I need to let him out now .

I can't believe I just publicized this. [:#]

[oscarsear]

Was thinking about this situation as I was driving home today. Had an intersting thought cross my head.

I could see how anyone might (would?) be taken aback at what seemed to have happened here with their insensativity. I get that.

I could ALSO see how 10 years from now, how interesting it might feel if this family then met a fine young man/gal who might have the beating heart of their son inside them.

Here stands before them someone who is carrying around a part of their son that was working perfectly well the last time they saw their son (up until the plug was pulled) and it was salvaged and reinstalled into this person who today, might not be here but for it.

I could see a very interesting bond between someone like this who then watches this person walk away with something in them that was so close to them while their son was alive.

As I thought about this, I got to thinking that if anyone in my family ever donated anything, I would almost want it stipulated that the condition to do so is that I meet the recipient afterwards.

I would like to better understand who ultimately decides where the donated organs go. If there are private harvesters onsite seeking an organ how do they influence that decision? I fully agree w/Coytee, it would be marvelous to eventually meet the transplant recipient. But what if it turned out that the organ was put into someone that literally abuses themselves? How might the family feel if they knew that the kidney went into an alcoholic diabetic simply because a harvester group did the best manipulations and won the organ? How do these harvesters work? I think I'd like a contractual proviso whereby a family member could determine the transplant recipient if time alloted. We assume that these organs go to the sickest and most deserving patients. Is that in fact reality when such harvester deathbed wars take place?

[Coytee]

Pardon my cynicism but I'd have to keep the thought open in my head that part of the "sickest and most deserving recipients" will be somewhat qualified on their ability to pay (or have sufficient insurance to pay).

I'd have a really hard time believing that Mr. Donald Trump would not get a transplant even if Mr. John Doe was perhaps more deserving.

[oscarsear]

Pardon my cynicism but I'd have to keep the thought open in my head that part of the "sickest and most deserving recipients" will be somewhat qualified on their ability to pay (or have sufficient insurance to pay).

I'd have a really hard time believing that Mr. Donald Trump would not get a transplant even if Mr. John Doe was perhaps more deserving.

I don't think that is at all cynical. Everything counts and I'd have no doubt that the decedent would want not only what is best for the transplant recipient but also the heirs. But I'd still like to learn how this works. Who contacts these harvesters? Who ultimately determines where the organs go and based on what rationale? Dollars and cents aside this is a serious medical ethical quandary. I am accustomed to a transplant coordinator working with the community to match and place donor organs. If an organ can be bought but goes to a poorer matched recipient then the whole process stands to fail. The organ will have been wasted and nobodies medical status will have improved even if the facilities or the heirs happen to be somewhat wealthier.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

True story that I am telling second hand. At BYU (and most likely other colleges) they have cadavers to "dissect" for classes. They have buckets (actual buckets) full of parts, one full of eyes, another spleens, another, not making this up, filled with penises.

I will not be donating.

[JL Sargent]

True story that I am telling second hand. At BYU (and most likely other colleges) they have cadavers to "dissect" for classes. They have buckets (actual buckets) full of parts, one full of eyes, another spleens, another, not making this up, filled with penises.

I will not be donating.

I don't give a flying crap what they do with my dead body. Upon my death my body is going to UAB medical school and they can do whatever they want with it part or whole. Here, throw another penis in the pile. It was fun while it lasted.[]