How do we get more organs?

People spend years waiting for a donor organ in vain. Their deaths are slow, painful and easily preventable.

This is unacceptable.

What is to be done?

hashtagsarestupid

Kill more people to harvest organs from.

That's the unfortunate truth. Now should we do that? No. People's lives are worth more than just an organ to save somebody else, we shouldn't be culling innocents just for their organs to ease the donor waiting list.

Tis a pity we haven't perfected organ cloning yet. That would end the problem right there.

Well, you could try using pig organs. Maybe genetically modified pigs?

Or mechanical replacements might work for some organs.

Be not afraid...

I read this as more orgasms.

Well, if that were true, this thread wouldn't be. But enough pedantry.

An (Automatic) National Donor Program. Where everyone from the age of 18 onward is automatically a donor and those who do not wish to donate in the event of their death may opt out of.

^This. At the very least, get after graduating teens to sign up just like they do with the Selective Service.

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Allow the sale of organs, so people can donate "non-vital" organs (kidneys, liver) for cash...

Or we can do as Tom suggest and kill people. Either works.

^^ Selective Service only applies to men however. Automatic donor registration would have to be both sexes.

Last I checked, you signed up when you got your driver's license.

If you're not going to pick it then, when are you?

I agree that being an organ donor after your death should be the default, not the exception. You should have to go fill in a form to say that you don't want them donated, rather than one to say that you do.

How many more donors would we gain through sheer laziness?

Be not afraid...

Well, if we're talking hypotheticals I'm for perfecting Tissue Engineering so we can grow replacement organs for people who need them.

Sorry, I can't hear you from my FLYING METAL BOX!

There have been studies, but I can't seem to find any data atm.

And bah, while looking for those figures it appears my government shot down a proposal to turn our opt-in system into an opt-out system earlier this year. Backward assholes, they have no qualms taking a good third of anything one owns at the time of one's death, but a few lousy organs here and there is suddenly "forcing a choice on people"

edited 7th May '11 8:20:52 PM by GreatLich

Agreed, the needs of the living are more pressing then the needs of dead.

hashtagsarestupid

What about prisoners who get the death penalty or a life sentence?

Harvest organs, save lives, everyone wins...mostly of course.

Power corrupts. Knowledge is Power. Study hard. Be evil.

Most of them do not have organs you would want to have.

That one guy who donated his body to science and they froze him and cut him into thin slices they then scanned into a computer? He was a deathrow inmate, in prefect bodily health.

^^beggers cant be choosers

hashtagsarestupid

Even if a person might be willing to gamble, a doctor might not.

I doubt the prison population will provide enough organs.

As for the organs of dead people... yeah, make it default to take them. If someone does not want their organs taken they should have to sign a form or something like that.

Frankly, I think that if some people care more about keeping a dead body intact (which kind of makes no difference, as they are DEAD) than about helping a living person survive, then they can go fuck themselves... but first let's see how far having a take-their-organs-by-default approach will go, to see if the more confrontational approach is even necessary...

edited 7th May '11 9:05:56 PM by neoYTPism

There is no gamble in choosing between certain death and possible death.

hashtagsarestupid

I very much doubt organ transplantation is a matter of "let's sew it in there and see if it works"

edited 7th May '11 9:05:57 PM by GreatLich

Agreed, though I doubt you can force them to comply.

edited 7th May '11 9:06:59 PM by ViralLamb

Power corrupts. Knowledge is Power. Study hard. Be evil.

I never got one, and I don't plan on getting one anytime soon. Still don't really know where I can sign up without getting a driver's license.

I still think an opt out system could be good, until we can start cloning organs anyways.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.

x4

Ok, let's say you do get one, and it fails because of some problem. Wow, you've spent how much effort for what? Dying anyway?

Getting an organ donation is not a simple matter, it changes your life forever. Some people even choose to die rather than go through that effort.

And yes, there are issues with getting a good transplant candidate. Very few people die clean.

It's also on the form for state-issue photo ID.

edited 7th May '11 9:20:16 PM by blueharp

I don't live in the 'States.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.