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Presumed Consent

(203 Posts)
GrannyGravy13 Wed 27-Feb-19 08:58:53

Jane10, your post echoes the conversation I had with MrGG13 last night. Whilst I appreciate the need for donor organs, this feels as though when we die the government owns our bodies.

I think I would have donated my children's organs if something had happened to them, fortunately the decision is now their married partners.

I only hope,that the medical staff deal with the bereaved as kind and tactfully as possible, and do not stop their efforts to save people's lives in desperate situations.

PECS Wed 27-Feb-19 08:57:39

I am in favour of presumed consent.
My DDs , DH & I have all discussed the issue and know that if a dreadful time came we are clear what each other want.

It is a basic moral question for me.

If I would accept an organ for aloved one to live I have to be prepared to give to others if the situation arose.

Jane10 Wed 27-Feb-19 08:50:28

I've just been reading about this and it looks like presumed consent for organ donation is going ahead nationwide.
I find myself with mixed emotions somehow. I know there are a lot of people desperate for new hearts and other organs but, somehow, I'm uncomfortable with the notion that the bodies of dear departed ones can be 'reaped' in this way unless they have opted out. Whose body is it after death? I trust that hospital staff will be trained to be as kind and tactful as possible.
I have such clear memories of a phone call I took from a patient of my Dad's after her son's car accident. Her distress was desperate. 'They want his kidneys and his eyes' is her phrase that has never left me. Poor woman. She felt that 'they' wouldn't do their best to save her son as they had uses for his body parts. A horrible discussion. Sorry everyone. I know I shouldn't be thinking like this but I am. sad
I'm also well aware of people needing transplants. I wish that opt in was continuing rather than opt out.