(I'm writing this because I myself have heard this myth and at one point believed it could be the truth)
Myth - Doctors, EMS etc. will not do as much to save my life in a medical emergency if they know I am an organ donor.
Truth - All medical professionals are sworn to keep the Hippocratic Oath which basically states that they will do everything within their power to maintain the life of the person they are serving.
It makes zero practical, medical and ethical sense to "allow" one person to die (in this way) so that others might possibly live. Organ donation is never a sure thing for the recipient, and every single medical professional I have talked with about this subject (either on a professional or casual level) has given me complete assurance that they could not imagine anyone ever giving teeth to this myth. When you are in a medical emergency, their complete focus is on saving your life.
In fact, people who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests to determine that they are truly dead than are those who haven't agreed to organ donation.
Please, read more about Organ Donation Myths.
I'd hate to think that the only thing keeping somebody from becoming a donor is a lie.
Nate
78 comments:
Thanks, Nate. I have heard and been influenced by that myth. Thanks for clearing things up!
I worked in an ER for 10 years and this is true!
Ok you have just convinced me, I have just joined the UK organ donor register, this is big news here at the moment and I had this conversation with my husband last night, he will join too. I will email stuff about this to all of my contacts in the hope of getting them to join up, I didnt realise there was SUCH a wait, or how many people die waiting for organs, it is senseless. BTW Praise the Lord for Tricias consciousness! still praying for you all, Beverley UK
Thanks Nate. I have heard this same myth myself and hope that many others will read it and stand firm behind it. My husband has even said that is the main reason he is not a donor. I am a donor and hope that when the lord calls me home that I will be able to save someone else. I have 3 precious children and hope that if and when they might need such, that it is there for them. I follow your story on a daily basis, many times a day, and you and your girls are lifted up each day. God bless you and many memories to come.
Thank you for clearing that up. I would never have thought that doctors would do that, but I guess some people out there do... and definitely needed to hear that.
hey nate......
you don't know me. i went to liberty and heard about you guys thru another friend. i heard about your story and the tough time you guys are going thru and went to check out your site. i know it's nothing tangible but i just wanted you to know that this jersey girl prayed for you all today. as the director of a crisis pregnancy center, i am over joyed to see your little girl having been born and i pray nothing but blessing and healing for your wife!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for posting this. I renewed my license last week and when I showed my boyfriend my new one, he noticed that I was listed as an organ donor. He told me that I should have that taken off and went on to tell me about this myth. I admit that I was kind of nervous after hearing that, but I feel so much better after finding out that it just isn't true.
This is great. I've been an organ donor since I was 18 and I think it's a wonderful thing for everyone to do. I came across your blog at the beginning of the week and have been reading it faithfully every day waiting for updates. Thank you so much for sharing your family's story with all of us. You, Tricia and baby Gwenyth have been and will continue to be in my prayers!
it warms my heart that you are so passionate about organ donation- i am, too! i lost my 22-year-old cousin, holly, in a car crash- and she was an organ donor. MANY of her organs were used...and we have even received letters from patients who are actually using holly's organs, and doing well. holly had asthma, so her lungs couldn't be donated, but they were used for CF research! the national symbol for organ donation is the green ribon. i wear it with pride.
STLLL PRAYING EVERY DAY for tricia and gwyneth!
I am organ donor, says so on my d/l, but I should make sure people know that. Never knew you could donate lungs until I read this blog. Mine are kept smoke free for my own health and in case someone ever needs them :)
Today I signed up to become an organ donor. Your story WILL save other lives.
I've told my family and friends, "I don't care how morbid it is, make sure you tell your relatives that you want to be an organ donor." I think everyone short of my second cousins know what I want in the event of my death.
When I was 15, I lost a good friend of mine. Just the week before he died, he'd told his grandfather that when he went, he wanted all of his usable organs donated. Thank God for His providence, many of his organs were usable, and his family knew what he wanted. Half a dozen people might not have had a chance, had he not spoken up.
I'm praying that, when Tricia is ready, her organ angel speaks up, too.
3 years ago I signed up to be an organ donor...I dont know why I hadn't originally but when I got married and had to get a new license I thought no better time.
Just caught up on your recent posts (man, you stay busy!) and I'm so happy you were able to talk with your beautiful wife. AND I'm glad that your site is not blocked at my work...but then again, they dont know I'm on here. haha.
I too have heard that myth, and glad you exposed it as the lie it is.
A good friend of mine was in a fatal car accident 4 years ago. We went to see him in the hospital and he was "alive" but little to no brain function. His parents made the decision to donate his organs. I had been an organ donor before that, but to actually know someone who donated their organs and saved the lives of others made it concrete that this is the right thing to do.
On the preemie front, I wanted to introduce myself (many of my virtual preemies friends have posted about your blog). I am the mother of 23.5 week twins, who are now 16 months (12 months adjusted age), and doing amazing!
We're wishing you, your wife, and your daughter all the best!
I just registered to be an organ donor. Keep spreading the word (and the Word)!
I have told my family & have the power of attorney set up as well. Same with my husband.
I ask - why would anyone NOT donate their organs?
Thanks for de-bunking this myth. It's one of the most common ones I hear when people talk about not becoming an organ donor. I'm SO glad Tricia is awake! We'll patiently wait to hear how she's doing... in her own words! :-)
Dear Nate..
Thank you for your continued commitment to educate others with regards to organ donation. An organ donor saved the life of a dear friends baby brother back in 1992. Connor received a heart that saved his life...he is now nearly 16 years old and loving life! I pray that Tricia will receive new lungs when she is able! God will continue to work through your family..showing his mercy, love, and his ability to perform miracles! Thinking of your family daily and fervently praying for healing, strength, and progress!
Hi! Just read all your updates! Praising God that Tricia is awake and praying Gwyneth's CF screening comes back negative. Have a wonderful blessed day with your sweet wife and sweet baby Gwyneth!
Love, Leslie
I just learned of your story around Christmas and have become a faithful follower. I am glad that things are going smoothly for both Tricia and Gwyn. I am not one to comment but your family is in my prayers and I look forward to your updates.
I have an aunt that is celebrating 5 years with her new lungs this month. Her surgery was preformed at Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN. While she has her ups and downs she is doing well.
I would encourage all that are reading this to consider being an organ donator. Organ donation becomes a last chance for so many. Unfortunately every year many people pass away waiting for an organ.
I will continue to pray for your family. I hope to be reading about Tricia's 5 year double lung transplant some day.
God Bless,
Stephanie
Your story is inspiring and you, your wife, and daughter are in my prayers and thoughts.
I am a donor. I won't need them after I go and if I can continue to help others when I'm gone, it seems like the obvious thing to do. My 16yo son just got his drivers permit and made the decision on his own without any conversation that he would be a donor! I thank God for my precious children every day!
My daughter needed a liver, and was number one on the list awaiting transplantation Christmas Eve 1999. She needed a small child to die, to give her 16 year old body a small liver that would fit. One never came.
But God, through prayer, did a miracle for her and healed her liver failure completely, and she walked out of the Univ of VA pediatric intensive care on New Years Day 2000, and has never looked back. She was miraculously healed by God. I saw it and marveled. There are no words to convey the wow factor. Even Oprah wanted us on her show, but it didn't air.
We are all registered organ donors. But,God is so GREAT! I'm telling you. Have some bigger faith, ask for impossible things.
It is no wonder that the poster at 1:35 posted anonymously. For shame. How can anyone who calls themself christian not rejoice in the posibility of giving many people life from a body that they understand will not go to heaven with them!?!?
I hope you delete that comment.
I have been an organ donor since I was 18. My parents believed another myth that your link debunks - the one about an open casket funeral - and I convinced them it wasn't so... they're donors now too.
My heart is with you, your girls and your friends and family. Looking forward to continued good news!
Isnt it fantastic that this blog has reached so many people all over the world, prayers are being answered for more donors and thanks to you more people will receive the gift of life.
Praise God.
Its such good news to hear that Tricia is awake and Gwyneth is doing so well. On the cf forum in the UK people have said how much they admire you Nate and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly.
Sue.
I am praying for your family.
Just so you know - I'm a donor! :)
Thank you Nate! Since you've gotten 200,000 hits, it means that your common sense plea is reaching thousands and will make a difference! My mom's a cardiac nurse and we used to take time every Christmas to visit some of her patients. I remember one year there was a guy - 50ish or so - who had been waiting for a heart for months and his time was running out. His family was by his bed praying for a new heart to come available soon. It made me wonder how you could reconcile that... hoping that someone else's loved one would die so that your loved one could live. But before I could let that silly thinking go any further, the man's wife said it out loud. Of course they weren't wishing harm on anyone. They knew that every day people die unexpectedly. Their prayer was simply that new life would spring from inevitable tragedy. All of the family members were registered donors and the following January, I put my name on the list as well. I might mention that we can also make a difference while living by registering for the bone marrow donor program!
So, thanks again for bucking myths and raising awareness. I am in awe of how much good you are causing when many others in your circumstances might curl up into an anxious ball and cry!! Bless you all!!
It doesn't affect my status as an organ donor at all, but I've heard that when a hospital knows you're an organ donor they take even better care of you to ensure that should you pass away your organs are well taken care of. Who knows!? I'm sure though that you're right and they won't treat someone badly just because they could be an organ donor. The fact is, It's not always guaranteed that our organs will be viable. Signing up to donate just means you are willing to help save one or many lives by giving something you can no longer use.
I would also like to de-bunk Myth #2 - "you might not be dead when they take your organs"...
The brain stem is the part of the brain that controls all the involuntary reflexes and activities that allow us to live and which we don't have to think about. It maintains our body temperature, blood pressure, breathing reflex, the beating of our heart, etc.
When someone is on a ventilator (or life support machine) and they have severe brain injury, the doctors will run a very detailed range of tests called "brain stem tests". In the UK these must be carried out twice by two seperate doctors, one of whom must be a consultant, and neither of whom can have any link to a transplant team. These tests are extremely in-depth and involve things like testing turing off the ventilator for 10 minutes whilst awaiting any sign of a breathing reflex, testing for a gag reflex, cough reflex, pupil response to light, corneal reflexes etc.
If all the tests confirm that the brain stem has definitely died, then the only reason that the person's lungs and heart are still working is purely because of a machine. At this point the person's lungs can either be removed for donation, or the machine will be turned off and they will be buried/cremated. There is no third alternative.
Brain stem death is completely different from a persistant vegetative state. In fact, even if the ventilating machine were left on and with any amount of medical intervention, the person's heart would still stop naturally within hours or days once the brain stem has died.
Hope that helps to clear up another common myth! Well done Nate on encouraging so many people to think about this issue and to realise that they have the ability to one day save or radically transform up to 7 people's lives through organ donation. What a legacy to leave behind!
call me crazy (fyi...had the nickname crazy Jane for most of my life!)... but if I am any where close to Heaven's gates.... take the organs for someone else. Giving someone else life so I can go to be with my maker, savior, and Lord....it's a no brainer (pun intended) for me...I want to go HOME to be with Jesus. Don't think twice about my desires.
NOT that I would ever do ANYTHING to hurry the process. I just KNOW where I am going, and if my organs can give someone the chance to choose Heaven over hell due to one more day/week/month/year here on earth...than so be it!
if you KNOW that you KNOW, then there should not be any fear.
P.S: Sorry that sentance should have read:
"At this point the person's ORGANS can either be removed for donation, or the machine will be turned off and they will be buried/cremated. There is no third alternative."
I saw a link to your blog on a friend of a friend's website and clicked on it. I had no idea that I would be led to a place where I can see God at work. I don't know you at all, but feel a connection b/c one we are in the same family in Christ, and my husband Nathan is on staff at a church and we live in Durham. Praying for all of you from just a few miles away. Thankful for your constant picture of faith. Christi
Still praying for your two sweet girls. I am the mommy of a six month old baby girl. During her nap time today, I held her hand, and "we" prayed for Gwenyth and Tricia.
Hello Nate. Thanks so much..todays report was so encouraging. I "know" you from Crosswalk. I hope you don't mind, but I've started daily bumping your prayer request there by quoting a portion of your updates from this site. You, Tricia and Gwyneth are a magnificent testimony of God's faithfulness and love. Your story has profoundly changed me. I am praying and will continue to pray.
My husband is a firefighter / paramedic near Baltimore, Md. He says that if anything, if they know someone is an organ donor, they will try harder to keep them alive. It's just the opposite of the myth.
This may be a stupid question but when Tricia is ready for her lung transplants is it possible that she could receive one good lung and then another at a later date if two aren't avail. at the same time or do they have to both at once? I was reading more about organ donation and didn't see that question answered anywhere. Do you know? Heather http://www.ricetrio.blogspot.com
Today I signed my driver's license to become an organ donor. I also spoke to my husband to express my wishes. You will probably never know how many lives you and Tricia have touched. Your love has spread throughout the world.
It's been on my mind the last few days as I've been glued to your blog, that you might not be fully aware of the good that you are doing in allowing us to be a part of your journey. Thousands are reading your every word, Nate. Thousands are praying for your girls. Thousands are being made aware of CF and the devestating effects it can have. Thousands are being made aware of the need for organ donors. Imagine if every one of those thousands made a $10 donation to a Great Strides walker this year...if everyone of those thousands signed the back of thier liscense or applied for an organ donor card. You opened yourself to us so that we could witness God at work in your lives. You have, in doing that, set in motion the wheels of progress in fighting CF and ensuring that organs are available to those who need it. Please everyone reading this, in Tricia's honor, consider becoming an organ donor. Consider making a small monetary donation to CFF or another organization working to find a cure.
As a Cf mom, I thank you.
I just remembered this site and lit a candle for Tricia and Gwyneth and took time to pray for each of them...
check it out and maybe encourage others to do so...
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng
looking forward to more good news!
--miriam
I and my husband are both donors, and should anything happen to our kids, they are too...
Love the candle site...that is neat....lit a candle in Honor of Tricia and Gywn and their fight for life, and to the one who loves them most, Jesus...
I have always been an advocate of organ donation and even did a persuasive speech on it in my speech class at Liberty, so I actually have a lot of information on it if anyone is interested. How wonderful to see all the people that have now decided to be organ donors! Praying for you guys.
I've always been on the fence about this but after following Tricia's battle through your blog and seeing how such a gift could give her a longer life with you and her beautiful daughter, how could I not be a donor? I will register when I renew my license next month.
To quote someone else "when a hospital knows you're an organ donor they take even better care of you to ensure that should you pass away your organs are well taken care of"
As a nurse with 20 years experience, this is mine. The myth is ridiculous!
Hi Nate. I have been reading about and praying for your family since the day before Gwenyth arrived. I heard about you on the Second Wind lung transplant e-mail support group. My 17 yo daughter is a recipient of a double lung TX due to Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. She is 7 1/4 years out from TX and doing very well! Will keep praying...God Bless! If you want for any reason to contact me, please do so through my website @ www.MYTVSurfer.com
You must have been reading my mind, because after your post encouraging us to be organ donors, the little thought in my mind went to the myth (that you described here) that I have believed since even my younger years.It was because of my belief in this myth that I never checked the organ donor box for my driver's license. I think it is great that you posted this information to clear the air for people like me who aren't donors due to a silly myth.
Thanks!
As a CF patient and double lung transplant recipient, I am a STRONG advocate for organ donation. I speak to numerous groups (high school/colleges/hospitals) each year educating them on the FACTS about organ and tissue procurement. It is hard to watch one who is properly informed make a decision not to donate, but it is even harder knowing thousands are making the decision to not donate based on their mere naivety.
If you'd like to read up on the FACTS regarding organ and tissue donation, please visit www.donatelife.net
As my 1 day old daughter was fighting for her life in 1994 I asked the doctors about her being an organ donor. Let me assure everyone that the doctors did EVERYTHING humanly possible to try to save her life before she died.
Unfortunately, because of the massive Group B Strep infection she had throughout her body she was not a canidate for donation. It would have been a great comfort for me to know that her short life might have extended another's life. God did use her life to draw me to Him and in the end, her life was an instrument used to save mine for eternity! God is SO good!!!
Hope the three of you are having a wonderful day - I am still praying for all of you! You need to post an updated picture of your little girl (=
Hi,
My name is Laura Koster and I work at Liberty University with your Uncle, Scott. I work in the same training room as Scott and he has been telling me all about your situation and asking our whole staff for prayers. Well, since last week I have been checking in on your blog daily and praying for you and your family as I know many of our staff is. Today I also signed up to be an organ donor and will encourage my athlete's, co-workers, and family members to do the same. Thank you so much for your words of hope and faith... Your story is so encouraging and the testimony that you and your wife have is irreplacable. God bless!
Someone else posted this website to light candles... why doesn't everyone light one for Tricia and Gwyneth and Nate?
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng
If you enter T&G&N as the group, you'll be able to find all the other candles lit for them too.
I have been an organ donor ever since I got my driver's license which was only like a year ago as I am only 20. My mom was totally against it because of the whole "the doctors just let you die thing." But I did it anyway. Thanks for clearing that up, I'll let my mom know she was wrong. God Bless!
I am already a donor and have been eversince I got my license - that was a loooooong time ago. At age 19 one of my best friends committed suicide and all of her organs were harvested and transplanted sccessfully - I would encourage all to consider donation - besides where we're going you won't need all that stuff anyway!!!!
I've been an organ donor for years and love it. The thought that God can use my dead body for good in others is amazing to me. I'll be gone in heaven so who cares what happens to the rest of the old me.
PS my grandmother died because there weren't enough plasma donations to keep her alive until her meds took affect. If it were you or someone you loved you'd want to find a donor and quick.
Thank you Nate for clearing up that misconception. My father has been an organ donor for as long as I can remember. It is b/c of him that I am also one.
Just also wanted to mention about the milk bank, how different is that than the blood bank? My dad is also a blood donor and enjoys sharing what he has been given. Both substances nourish the body and can be shared w/others who have the need.
So all those yrs our parents tried to teach us to share, sure pays if we share as a donor in anyway possible.
I hope you are getting plenty of rest so that your strength is renewed and you can be strong for your girls. Here is a verse to help encourage you, Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Praying earnestly for your sweet girls.
I 100% support organ donation as does my whole family. I have a cousin who died in a car accident when we were 16-she had just got her license & we were on her first weekend drive. I made it through but she didn't. She saved 5 lives that rainy night. Her parents pray every day for the families that recieved her organs. The have met 3 of the families. Her lungs just so happened to go to a 14 year old with CF. My daughter also has CF (I hand't had her at this point because we were only 16). We later got to meet the girl & her family 4 years later & I had my daughter who in turn has CF, it was a bittersweet connection like none other.
I pray that people make the decision to be donors & most importantly make thier families aware of thier decisions.
I'm still praying for Tricia & Gwyneth--I know--I'm officially addicted to your blog!!!!!! I have to check here every chance I get. I have my mom checking for me now when I can't!!!!! I think she's becoming addicted also
-Bobbi
I am a nurse who works with pediatric transplant patients. I will never forget what one mom told me, when faced with the possibility of losing her infant son without a donor. Her father told her "You are not praying for another mother to lose her child. You are praying that if a parent has a choice to donate organs or not, they say 'yes'." I have shared that with more than one parent who was struggling with the thought that a child has to die for their child to have another chance at life.
Yesterday I cared for a patient who had received a lung transplant, and it marked a year since one of our "favorites" passed away while waiting for hers. Because of that,I decided that today I should leave a comment even though I've been reading for a few days. Praying for you, your family, and especially for your "girls".
Don't take your organs to Heaven, Heaven knows we need them here :o) Sign your donor cards!
iloveblogs44@gmail.com
Having been an ER nurse for several years, I can assure you that this is true. (By the way, most ER nurses and doctors ARE organ donors.)
Like the bumper stickers say, "Don't take your organs to Heaven.. Heaven knows we need them here!"
Having been an ER nurse for several years, I can assure you that this is true. (By the way, most ER nurses and doctors ARE organ donors.)
Like the bumper stickers say, "Don't take your organs to Heaven.. Heaven knows we need them here!"
My organs aren't likely worth much (because of asthma) but I'm a donor anyway, as is my brother. If someone else could live as I die, it would be an amazing thing.
". . .people who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests to determine that they are truly dead than are those who haven't agreed to organ donation."
I'm a doctor and am familiar with organ donation and transplantation. This quote (which actually came from the Mayo site) is close, but isn't *quite* true. (Makes it sound as though they don't carefully check non-organ donors to make sure they're really dead! :-D (definitely not the case)). What they're trying to get at is the difference between brain death ("death by brain criteria") vs. "regular" death ("death by cardio-respiratory criteria"). The vast majority of people die the "regular" way - that is, their heart stops beating. However, in the case of some types of causes of death, the brain and brain stem completely stop functioning, and the person is legally and physically dead, but their heart hasn't "gotten the message" yet and continues to beat (the person can't breathe for themselves and must be on a ventilator). The distinction between these two types of death is super important for organ donation, because in people who are brain dead, the blood continues to circulate and nourish the body. This is what makes organ donation possible, and one reason for the shortage of organs, even aside from families not giving permission for organ donation, is that relatively few people die by brain death, compared to how many people die the "regular" way.
The tests referred to in the quote above are testing for brain death. There are several different clinical examinations that doctors do to examine the functioning of the brain stem at each level. All levels of the brain stem must be completely nonfunctional in order for someone to be declared brain dead. The same examination takes place in *all* patients suspected of being brain dead, regardless of whether they're being considered for organ donation. There is absolutely no way that organs would ever be taken from anyone who was not legally and completely dead.
There have been advances made, however, in what is called "donation after cardiac death." This is an effort to allow more people who want to be donors to donate their organs. It is just what it sounds like - organ donation from people who die by having their heart stop, rather than from brain death. It is definitely more difficult, though, because of the issue of having the organs not be nourished by blood during the time between the person's heart stopping and the time that the organs can be removed for donation.
I hope this was helpful. Another plea for people who would like to be organ donors: TELL YOUR FAMILY! A person's family has the ultimate say in whether their organs will be donated. Even if you signed the back of your driver's license, in many places if your family says no, your organs will not be donated. So let your wishes be known! Tell your family members, "you know that blog, with the woman hoping to get a lung transplant? Well, I just want to let you know that if something bad happened to me and I died, I would want my organs donated." That way, your family doesn't have to make any "hard decisions," you've already made the decision and they're just carrying out your wishes!
Jessica Miller, MD
I am an organ donor and have never even given thought to if they tried to save me or not, if it's my time I don't think there is much the doctors can do, there will be a higher power taking over. My son is 5 and while it's not fun thought, if heaven forbid anything happen, I would make the same decision for him, so another parent could know the joy of his spirit.
I thank you for posting this information...as was true with my husband, sounds like there were a lot of people under the same misconception!
Nate,
I posted on my blog just the other day promoting organ donation as well as giving links to your site, the organ donation site (can't remember the name right off hand), and your dad's site where he teaches about how to pray for a donor recipient. I have been a willing organ donor for years. I have never heard of the myth you just mentioned. I am glad that you bring light to such issues and I am glad you are touching hundreds of thousands of people.
May God continue to use you and bless you and your family.
Heidi Reed
Thanks for clearing that issue up Nate, I'm already on the donor registration and those thoughts never entered my mind, but I'm sure they could be considered a big deal to others.
Cheers mate!
There are stickers over here in Holland that say: "Don't take your organs to heaven, we need them down here!"
Totally agree!
This might have been said, so my apologies if it has and I am being repetitive.
I had the interesting privilege to be the nursing assistant in the ICU on a day that we had an organ donor patient. He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, even a remotely good candidate as a donor (history of hypertension, substance abuse); however, the patient was probably given MORE time to try to recover than someone else in his situation. He was brain dead before he arrived at the hospital, but was kept alive for three days to ensure that he was not going to gain back any neuro function.
I guess I just say that to reiterate that the hospital will not give up on you if you decide to become an organ donor. And even if your health isn't perfect, they will do everything they can, if they can't save you, to use whatever organs or tissue they can. Only 20 percent of willing donors are actually able to donate (at least that is the number I've heard), but they appreciate every possibility and don't take for granted the life of the donor!
Frankly I'd be surprised if they even knew a patient was a donor until after death. While the patient is living that's none of their business.
I'm really glad you posted this. I have been an organ doner for a few years, now, but this fear was the very reason it took me so long to do so.
Thanks!
Blessings to you and your two girls!
~Stacy
Thank you for all the information on organ donating. Also, I appreciate your loving updates on Tricia. God is watching over your family. Bless you always. Clare in Florida
Thank you for the information on organ donating. Also, I appreciate your loving updates about Tricia. God is blessing you and your family. I will continue to hold you in my heart with prayers. Clare in Florida
Can anyone sign up to be a possible doner?
As someone who has just started the process to see if her liver is compatible for another, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for these posts!
"Can anyone sign up to be a possible doner?"
Yes, anybody can register to be a donor.
As an ER nurse of 11 years, I can tell you I have never even heard of someone stopping lifesaving measures to "check the donor card". Practically speaking it would take too much time, in the end, unless a living will is in place its the family that makes the decision anywy despite the mark on a drivers license (unless that particular thing has changed). So donors need to make sure their decision makers are in full kowledge of their wishes!
Doctors are human and their ability to remain objective is not possible 100 percent of the time.
yes, they take the Hippocratic Oath but you also say you will follow God's word but still sin and thus doctors can fail on this oath also.
I would never place myself on the list you are flagging your self for a premature finding of "brain death"
"Doctors are human and their ability to remain objective is not possible 100 percent of the time.
yes, they take the Hippocratic Oath but you also say you will follow God's word but still sin and thus doctors can fail on this oath also.
I would never place myself on the list you are flagging your self for a premature finding of "brain death""
I pray neither you nor anybody you love ever needs a transplant. God bless.
Post a Comment