So we all become alturistic and become an organ donor. Really!!

The ideal is a young healthy adult or child that was killed or found unconscious but vegetative due to the injury or attempted suicide. One must die in order for another to survive.

The reality of today is that the general population is growing older and therefore when death does occur, it will, in most situations, be due to cancer or multi-system failure or complications from diabetes and other chronic diseases. Not your ideal organ donors. What about those with HIV? They would definitely be excluded. As for myself, I was seriously ill from Hepatitis B over 20 years ago and now I am getting up there in my golden years. Do you think that they want me? I don't think so and therefore I will not consider being a donor.

So those of you who think there should be a surplus of organs out there, what do you suggest? Harvesting kidneys from every healthy adult walking the streets; taking segments from his or her liver; taking a lung (we have two, so what the heck, be altruistic and donate one). Why not have organ farms that keep people on indefinite life support ("Coma"). Terminating life at age 30 ("Logans Run") and all the organs would be in an optimal state.

Life would be so simple, wouldn't it.

To Mellowing:

I am up there with you (in age) and am not a donor. My mother, age 91, is.

You forgot "Live Organ Donors" (Monty Python)...is this what we have to look forward to?

Nasochkas:

y not be an organ donor, and if your organs are not fit due to disease or age, then they simply wont be used.

So organ donations may save a few lives. There are people out there that save many more lives in their lifetimes through blood and plasma donations. In the last year I have potentially saved over a hundred lives through plasma donation. I have the potential to save hundreds, possibly thousands in the years to come. Since blood type has a significant part in organ donation I do not believe that I would be a viable organ donor since my blood has been altered to allow me to donate plasma (I have never asked but I do have to show my donor identification to any hospital and doctor that sees or treats me). To sign up to donate my organs would actually be unethical if I am unable to do so just to go to the top of some list. That is besides the fact that I am contemplating donating my body to the local medical school. So under the belief by some that organ donors should get first choice when an organ becomes available means that I and others who donate their blood and plasma (and not their organs) to save numerous lives would be sent back to the waiting list if they needed an organ transplant although they have chosen a method that saves more lives than donating their organs.

Yes, I was given the gift of life and others like me have given my children the gift of life and I am giving many others the gift of life every time I donate.