Organ donation after death: thoughts and experiences?

:-) said:I haven't actually heard or seen anything myself, but honestly... I'm just making an educated guess based on the usual "moral high ground" nonsense you see in our healthcare system.

Maybe try actually looking into things or verifying the facts before you start "concluding" stuff without any real arguments behind it?

granitebadger25 said:I feel like you shouldn't just focus on the medical side of things, but really try to show your family and everyone around you where you stand on organ donation, you know? It’s one of those deep conversations that can change how people see you, and honestly, being open about it with the people closest to you makes everything so much more meaningful.
Worst case scenario, God forbid, they realize it was actually what you wanted all along, which basically lets them off the hook from all those heavy moral and religious dilemmas they're stressing over.

It's actually pretty straightforward if you look at how things work on the ground. From everything I've seen, it hasn't really happened where a family tries to fight an organ procurement when the donor had already made their positive stance crystal clear while they were still alive.

Regarding that link to the politics thread where everyone was going at it, honestly, aside from a couple of decent points, it was mostly just a massive pile of nonsense. Throughout that whole debate, you had people spinning all these wild conspiracy theories, claiming doctors might intentionally let someone die just to harvest their organs, or that people are being killed in car accidents specifically so their organs can be snatched up and sold on the black market, or whatever other crazy stuff they could dream up.

Since I run into organ explants pretty regularly in my line of work, I figured I’d take a second to clear up a few things about how this all actually works—there's a lot of stuff people seem to totally misunderstand.

To be an eligible donor, you've got to be a patient currently staying in the ICU.
The only way we can actually keep someone's vital signs going after they've been declared brain dead is through intensive medical intervention. We’re talking about keeping them on a ventilator, using a cocktail of vasopressors to stabilize their blood pressure, and constantly monitoring everything from hemodynamic stability to metabolic levels so we can fix any imbalances the second they pop up. I’m only bringing this up because I keep hearing people claim that organs were harvested from patients who passed away in other departments—like neurology, internal medicine, or surgery—but honestly, that’s just physically impossible. You can't harvest anything if the patient isn't being actively maintained like that. And let’s be real about those wild stories people tell, like "they just found him on the street and took his organs"... yeah, right. That kind of thing only happens in movies.

Besides everything else we talked about, the donor really has to be a perfect match for the transplant process. They need to be within the right age range, too. That basically means if there's any sign of cancer, they're immediately out of the running. On top of that, there’s a whole list of systemic issues and infectious diseases that make them ineligible for donation. We also won't proceed with an explant if the patient has suffered a recent hospital-related heart attack or something similar. And obviously, if there's even a hint of injury to the potential organs themselves, they aren't going to be used, and so on.

Look, in the US, it is absolutely impossible to even think about organ procurement unless brain death has been 100% confirmed first.
Honestly, all those stories about someone potentially having a chance to just "wake up from a coma" are complete and utter nonsense.
When you're doing a clinical exam, the first thing that usually tips you off that someone might be brain dead is seeing how they react to basic stuff. You notice pretty quickly when there's zero attempt at spontaneous breathing and they're just completely reliant on the ventilator to do the work. Then you see those wide, fixed pupils that don't even flinch when you shine a light in them, or you deal with massive diuresis—basically diabetes insipidus where the kidneys are just cranking out huge amounts of urine—and it all starts to paint that same heavy picture.
They usually run a series of clinical tests to confirm there's absolutely no brain activity left, like doing a ventilation apnea test or checking corneal reflexes.
If everything else points toward brain death, then we really need to run one of those specific tests that provides 100% certainty and holds up legally to confirm it once and for all.
Most doctors usually go with a brain perfusion scintigraphy, a cerebral angiography, or maybe a transcranial Doppler (TCD). The whole point of running those tests is to get absolute certainty that there’s zero blood flow left in the brain, because once that circulation stops, the brain just can't survive for more than about three to five minutes.
If those tests come back and confirm there’s absolutely zero blood flow anywhere in the brain, then honestly, that patient is gone—there's just no coming back from that. Once that signed report hits the anesthesiologist's or the ICU doctor's hands, they bring in a neurologist or a neurosurgeon to double-check the scans and the written findings themselves just to be certain.
So, you have to fill out this "Brain Death Certificate" that both the anesthesiologist and a consulted neurologist or neurosurgeon have to sign off on. The exact minute those two specialists put pen to paper is officially recorded as the moment the patient passes away. It’s wild when you think about it—legally, the person is gone from that second onward, even if their heart is still beating, their blood pressure is steady, they're breathing, and everything is being perfectly balanced by machines and meds.
Now you’re getting into the heavy, gut-wrenching part of the whole process—this is where they reach out to the family, talk to them, and ask if they're okay with the organ procurement moving forward.

IT IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO AN ORGAN PROCUREMENT WITHOUT GETTING AT LEAST 6-7 DIFFERENT HOSPITAL DEPARTMENTS INVOLVED (we're talking anesthesia and ICU, surgery, urology, neurology/neurosurgery, radiology, nuclear medicine, microbiology, biochemistry, blood transfusion, all that good stuff...).
I’m just mentioning this to make it clear there aren't any shady deals happening behind closed doors; this procedure involves a massive amount of people working together.
The anesthesiologist is right there managing the patient's vitals. The surgeon pulls the lymph nodes to send off to the tissue typing lab. A radiologist runs ultrasounds on every single organ, checking them over and, which is huge, measuring everything precisely. Microbiology teams analyze blood, urine, or sputum samples if needed to rule out any infections. Then you’ve got the transfusion team screening for things like hepatitis or HIV, determining blood types, Rh factors, and other specific details required for the actual transplant. Nuclear medicine handles the brain scans, and the biochemists are constantly monitoring endless parameters that might need immediate adjustment.
Depending on what’s needed, an ophthalmologist or a urologist might even step in...

FAMILY CONSENT IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL FOR THE PROCUREMENT PROTOCOL TO PROCEED.
If the family says no after the conversation, the whole procurement process stops dead in its tracks—there’s no arguing it, and that's the end of the story.
If the family does give the green light, the hospital coordinator—who’s already on site and is usually the anesthesiologist—notifies the national coordinator that there’s a potential donor and sends over all the paperwork, test results, imaging, etc.

This is where the chain can get a little shaky, because based on those incoming results, the goal isn't necessarily to pick the first person on the list, but rather the MOST COMPATIBLE recipient. So, say your name is Arsen Dedic and you're sitting way down at the bottom of the waiting list; you might find it hard to believe, but you could still be chosen even if there are candidates at the top who are also eligible.
I don't have firsthand knowledge of how that works, though I imagine it’s incredibly difficult to pull off, even if it's not impossible.

Anyway, once a recipient is selected, they’re notified urgently and admitted to a transplant center (like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, or maybe a major hub in Chicago or Houston).
Then, the procurement team is put together and heads out to the facility where the donor is located. It usually happens in the middle of the night... people arrive, retrieve the organs, the machines are turned off... and that's it.

Just one more thing... in a few instances, due to some "X-factor," Italian procurement teams have actually stepped in to take the organs. That "X-factor" is almost always because it was impossible to pull together a local American team—basically, someone didn't show up for work—so the organs ended up going to an Italian instead of an American.
In my opinion, that’s exactly where we should be looking to figure out why we aren't seeing more transplants. There are so few people who actually know how to manage this, and if one of them drops out of the equation, it's damn near impossible to replace them. But hey, that’s a whole different conversation for another thread.

:-) said:Honestly, this shouldn't even be funny. It really makes you wonder how much you can actually trust doctors when they won't even perform surgery unless there's a kickback involved. Everyone knows the corruption in the healthcare system is massive. You can't even get an appointment without paying under the table, but the second you grease their palms, suddenly there's an open slot for a checkup and a bed waiting for you at the hospital. These doctors are basically using hospital equipment and expensive machinery for their private practices just to line their pockets. And we're talking about the same people harvesting organs, where the money involved is astronomical. They even have permission to do it without family consent sometimes. It makes me wonder how many people actually verify if those procedures were truly necessary or if they were done when they said they wouldn't be. Their ethics are at such a low level that I just don't trust them at all!!!

Man, I actually started a thread about this on my old forum—specifically regarding the sale and theft of human organs—and I practically had the police knocking on my door. Things got pretty intense...😢
I ended up exposing some things that really shook up certain circles here in America...

:-) said:Look, I’m just throwing out an opinion here, not some airtight argument. That's just how I feel—I'm saying it's possible. It doesn't mean it's actually happening. There have been movies made about this kind of stuff, and honestly, I think we need more oversight because the potential for abuse is just too high.

Man, please don't just talk out of your ass like that. Sure, there are movies about this kind of thing, but you can't just claim that "organ harvesting during autopsies" is just happening all over the US without any proof...

Megan Reed said:I'm not entirely sure what a standard autopsy has to do with organ donation 😵, but some girl told me that during her autopsy, they actually put the brain back into the abdominal cavity to "fertilize" things. 😬 When I was at my autopsy, we didn't hang around to see if they’d even bother putting everything back where it belongs. 😳 Not like it matters, really... once you're dead, you're done.

The connection is pretty simple—it doesn't matter if an organ goes to a transplant recipient or just gets tossed out some other way, as long as you aren't leaving a mess behind for everyone else to deal with... I'd much rather someone get a use out of it than just... well, you know.

And that brain thing? Totally doable. They slice it up into pieces looking for tumors, and honestly, trying to fit all those fragments back into the skull is a nightmare. It's way easier to just shove it somewhere else in the body... We also got sent home early, so we didn't stick around to watch the cleanup either.

Megan Reed said:It would be way more logical if you had to sign up specifically because you *want* to donate organs, rather than having to opt out if you don't.

I don't know about that. Honestly, it makes way more sense that if you explicitly don't want your organs saving someone's life, you have to say so upfront, instead of having to opt-in.

And I seriously don't get why anyone wouldn't want their kidney to help someone else. What's the point once you're dead anyway?

I support the new law, purely for pragmatic reasons. How many people actually sit around contemplating their own death and deciding what happens to their organs, their body, or what kind of funeral they want? Barely anyone. Waiting for individuals to wake up to these questions would mean sacrificing far too many patients. That isn't responsible. Human life has to come first.

Edward Green said:I’m not so sure about that. In my view, it makes more sense that if you explicitly do *not* want your organs to save someone else's life, you have to state that upfront, rather than having to opt-in if you actually do want to help.

And honestly, I don't get why someone wouldn't want their kidney to help out. What good is it to them once they're gone?

Edward, that impulse to help others when you can—it's perfectly fine, and of course, I support it.

What bothers me about this specific law is that I see it as a dangerous overreach by the government into an individual's privacy and the right to bodily autonomy. To me, that sets a very risky political precedent.
It's even more dangerous regarding the long-term principles of democracy and personal liberty.
The state, just like any single person, should never be granted absolute authority over my organs—whether I am alive or deceased.

As a free individual, I must remain sovereign over my own body.

That is, in my opinion, one of the fundamental pillars of freedom. Only after we establish that can we discuss obligations, such as my "duty" as a free citizen to donate all my organs to some unspecified person X.

This law genuinely terrifies me. If we follow this logic—and I'll use a bit of hyperbole here to make my point—tomorrow the government could pass a law stating that everyone with blue eyes is obligated to donate one to the "greater good" for people who are blind.

The state, as an institution, shouldn't hold this much power over the individual. It isn't right. The individual must be able to check and balance the state.

Sure, but you won't care what happens to you once you're dead! It’s honestly kind of twisted—the idea that someone can only claim total sovereignty over their own body if someone else has to die just because there isn't a spare part available. Is your bodily autonomy in death really that damn important to you?

granitebadger25 said:Nah, I mean, you really gotta show your family and the people around you where you stand on organ donation, you know? Like, it’s not just about some paperwork; it's about making sure everyone's on the same page so there isn't any weirdness later on.
God forbid, but in the absolute worst-case scenario... like, if they actually find out that was what you wanted all along? You could just tell them you're taking the weight off their shoulders, you know? Like, let them off the hook from all those heavy moral and religious dilemmas. Maybe that would help? I don't know.

So, I finally bit the bullet and told my folks and my brother... and I even told my guy, since he’s basically by my side most of the day anyway...

So, whenever the topic of donating comes up in my circle of friends, I usually just chime in and say that I’ve already got my card ready to go. And if anyone actually asks me why or what my deal is, I'll sit them down and explain my whole philosophy on it...

Hannah Edwards said:The government shouldn't have the absolute right to decide what happens to my organs—whether I'm alive or dead—under any circumstances.

But the government doesn't have that kind of power. 🙂

Look, if you aren't okay with donating your organs for whatever reason, you can just opt out while you're still alive. Simple as that.

brisknomad6 said:I told my family... my parents and my brother... and I told my partner too, since he's with me most of the time anyway...

Whenever the topic of organ donation comes up among friends, I just let them know I'm a donor, and if anyone asks for more details, I'll happily explain my stance.

I'm exactly the same way!
Plus, I always tell doctors that if they ever need to save someone's life, they have my full permission to go ahead and use my organs.

I actually keep my donor card right in my wallet next to my driver's license. Honestly, it’s been a lifesaver—I once had some police officers in a small town decide to let me off with a warning for speeding just because they saw the card!
It's pretty amazing how much it can help me out during my lifetime, and then I get to be helpful to someone else even after I'm gone.

Michael Perez5 :
Honestly, once I realized how this works, I’m officially off the organ donor list. Count me out!

Oh yeah, because you're totally gonna screw over the government. America is going to be desperate for organs and they'll still be short-handed because of you.

You're acting like a damn child.

That law didn't pass here. And honestly? Good riddance.

I have zero interest in using someone else's organs if I get sick, and I have absolutely no intention of donating mine either.

Look, there was this one time a family member actually brought up the idea of me donating a kidney, but then he started talking about money. Like—he actually expected me to hand over $15,000 just so he could go grab a fresh, young kidney in an Asian country. 😲

I found out that everyone on the ward was dreaming about doing the same thing, and a few of them actually managed to scrape the cash together to score a new kidney that way.

So, I just told them: 🙂

Edward Green said:But the state simply doesn't have that kind of authority. 🙂

Look, if you aren't comfortable with the idea of donating your organs for whatever reason, you can simply decide during your lifetime that you don't consent. It’s that simple. Period.

It just seems logical to me that I shouldn't have to sign off on any laws that restrict how I control my own body.

I might eventually consider issuing authorizations. But I’m certainly not going to pre-emptively defend someone else's right to claim something that doesn't belong to them. It belongs to me, not him.

Betty Hill82 said:That law didn't pass here. And honestly, I'm glad.

Actually, that law did pass.

Edward Green said:Yeah, you’re definitely going to screw the whole country. The United States will end up needing a massive bailout just because of you.

It's like talking to a toddler.

I mean, sure... maybe nobody will be left out. But honestly, looking at all the scandals popping up in America—including those old ones from a few years back about organ theft that really messed me up for writing about them...

To be honest, I'd rather just be burned at the stake. I really can't stand coercion of any kind, or having people decide things for me under the guise of "it's for your own good."

Michael Perez5 said:"that's good for you"

Well, it's not "good for you." It's not even there to be good for you. You'll be dead. The only way anything could be "good for you" at that point is if Jesus Himself showed up and raised you from the dead—and no damn law in the US is going to help you with that. 😁>

bajki: In my opinion, it would make sense if I didn't have to write down prohibitions against how my body is used.

I might consider signing off on permissions, but I shouldn't have to pre-emptively ban someone from touching something that isn't even theirs to begin with. It belongs to me, not them.

When you die, it's not yours anymore, because you don't exist.

I don't know. Personally, I prefer the idea that people who are strictly against it have to opt out ahead of time, rather than making those who are pro-donation sign up first. For instance, I wouldn't mind if they tore me apart and took whatever could save someone else, then just burned the rest and dumped it somewhere. But honestly? I'm too lazy to go sit in some doctor's office and sign paperwork. Or wherever you do that. I really don't want to deal with stuff that affects my life while I'm still breathing, let alone mess with what happens to my corpse once I'm gone. 😁>

Hannah Edwards said:The law passed. Period.

It just doesn't exist in this country.

Check out my location.