Organ Donation?

Are you an Organ Donor?

  • Total voters
    108
Smash said:
I'm a veritable laugh riot! :P

It's a bit sad thought that one can't raise interesting questions on how we approach care in certain cirumstances without the automatic response being personal attack, or a scintillating gem of debate such as "Um..wow"

It is a very interesting and very vaild question of how and where we spend out limited healthcare dollar, but areas such as transplantation or geriatric care for example seem to be off limits for some reason, despite the enormous cost associated. For example, it is estimated (depending on who you read) that up to 70% of the health care dollar is spent on people in their last year of life, which somewhat begs the question of whether that money could be better spent elsewhere.

Organ donation however is not so clear cut. Kidney transplantation for example seems to bring a net benefit of around $90k a year; however figures for other types of transplantation are not so clear, and changing demographics will impact on how and where this money is spent.

Ultimately though, I think that what is the most concerning is not the lack of rational debate that can be enterered into, but the utter lack of reading comprehension that many people seem to exhibit. To recap my first post:

"From a purely utiliatarian point of view" Note that this does not necessarily meant that this is the viewpoint that I espouse, merely one that may be debated. This would perhaps be reinforced by my other lines such as

"Would I want one of my family members to recieve an organ should they need it? Of course! Just saying is all...

I'll happily donate my cadaver so the next generation can learn. And admire my tattoos.

Perhaps some remedial reading classes could be paid for by some companies for CE credits :p
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TL;DR.

Note that I didn't disagree with you; I merely commented on the state of your overall party-worthiness. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, etc, and I am happy that epic lulz occurred anyway. ^_^
 
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Griff said:
TL;DR.

Note that I didn't disagree with you; I merely commented on the state of your overall party-worthiness. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, etc, and I am happy that epic lulz occurred anyway. ^_^
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A few Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters and I'll have 'em rolling on the floor. That could be from the elbow to the throat though... :ph34r:

My newsletter "Ambulance Driving Made Unecessarily Complex, Time Consuming and Ineffective" comes out fortnightly, I'll comp you a copy :)

Seaglass said:
and being a jerk elsewhere is definitely going to change how other people react to anything you say in the future.
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You would think so ;)
However 2 points argue against your case. One is the fact that I posted in this thread long before I was a jerk in another thread about organ donation, and the other is the fact that some posters, despite an apparent inability to say anything civil about anyone, ever, nor indeed to actually address comments or questions directly, continue to be held in high regard for some reason.

How I say things may vary, but I would hope that as mature professionals we are able to examine the content rather than the delivery.

usafmedic said:
The reason we took you to task for it (or rather VentMedic did...and there are few people- other than my superiors- I fear having prove me wrong than her...it's like having a Rottweiler grab you by the scrotum) was that you based that assessment off of flawed notions that are patently false.
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I disagree that they are based off a premise that is patently false. Four articles that come to mind to support my views (both on kidney transplantation and others) are Cope (2001), Longworth (2003), Ouwens (2003) and Sagmeister (2003) (I love that name!) I will dig up the full citations shortly.

Irrespective of that, if the basis of my statement was blatantly incorrect it should be an inconsequential matter to simply rebut it with the appropriate evidence (as indeed it is relatively easy to do) and move on. Instead we have a chorus of "No way", "Nuh-uh!" "OMG" and "I seen people do good!"

I could have posted references in my first post, and maybe I should have, however I thought that it might stir discussion, debate and possibly even some research to rebut that position. I was sadly mistaken.
 
Incidentally USAF, that last was not directed at you.

I've lost my USB drive, so I can't find all the refernces I want. I will re-find them and post them another time. The 4 I mentioned are:

Cope, J. T., Kaza, A. K., Reade, C. C., Shockey, K. S., Kern, J. A., Tribble, C. G., et al. (2001). A cost comparison of heart transplantation versus alternative operations for cardiomyopathy. Ann Thorac Surg, 72(4), 1298-1305.

Longworth, L., Young, T., Buxton, M. J., Ratcliffe, J., Neuberger, J., Burroughs, A., et al. (2003). Midterm cost-effectiveness of the liver transplantation program of England and Wales for three disease groups. Liver Transpl, 9(12), 1295-1307.

Ouwens, J. P., van Enckevort, P. J., TenVergert, E. M., Bonsel, G. J., van der Bij, W., Haagsma, E. B., et al. (2003). The cost effectiveness of lung transplantation compared with that of heart and liver transplantation in the
Netherlands. Transpl Int, 16(2), 123-127.

Sagmeister, M., Mullhaupt, B., Kadry, Z., Kullak-Ublick, G. A., Clavien, P. A., & Renner, E. L. (2002). Cost-effectiveness of cadaveric and living-donor liver transplantation. Transplantation, 73(4), 616-622.
 
Incidentally USAF, that last was not directed at you.
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Even if it was, I take no offense at it.

I'll pull the articles in the morning after church and I'll take a look at them.
 
I'm an organ donor but my skeleton is earmarked for my anthro department from grad school. Plastic bones only teach so much.
 
kd7emt said:
I'm an organ donor but my skeleton is earmarked for my anthro department from grad school. Plastic bones only teach so much.
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A now deceased acquaintance of mine is actually on display at the National Museum of Natural History. It's really weird to round a corner and see this....:
DrKrantz.jpg

...and realize you're looking at the skeleton of someone you knew and respected. I had actually forgotten that he'd donated his skeleton and that of his dog. They mounted them together to mimic a picture of Dr. Krantz and his dog in life (which is hanging next to the skeletons).
 
I'm actually curious about donating my body to science. I feel that I would rather have an individual, or the medical community at large, benefit from my body than just rotting.
 
usafmedic45 said:
A now deceased acquaintance of mine is actually on display at the National Museum of Natural History. It's really weird to round a corner and see this....:

...and realize you're looking at the skeleton of someone you knew and respected. I had actually forgotten that he'd donated his skeleton and that of his dog. They mounted them together to mimic a picture of Dr. Krantz and his dog in life (which is hanging next to the skeletons).
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I passed by that exhibit without really looking at it. I assumed it was some animal attacking him or something. Now I think that's just about the most awesome and touching way to preserve remains ever, and that it's even cooler that you knew the guy.
 
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I don't look at it as organ donation.... I see it as "recycling" B)

PS: yes I am... parts is parts! :P
 
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