Donor status on Fb sounds like a great idea for raising awareness and encouraging others to think and talk about organ donation (living and non). That said, during my process I talked to a number of professionals in the field and repeatedly got the same feedback: The sticker on your license (and likely the flag on your Fb profile) doesn't mean much in the end. If you've got living family, they'll be asked and their answer is going to hold weight. The most important thing you can do as someone who wants to be a donor is to make sure you're family is aware of your decision and willing to give the go ahead if that time comes.
Registrations like the one mentioned in the article seem like an awesome idea, but I'd still be interested to know how often they're contested by family. Bottom line is that there's probably no better plan than for your family to understand and be on board with your decision.
> The sticker on your license (and likely the flag on your Fb profile) doesn't mean much in the end.
The flag on your FB profile will likely mean nothing officially, but practically it will mean more than the driver's license because your family is more likely to see it and be aware of it.
Congrats on the donation. I'm working through the evaluation process myself. Do you have any advice to share?
RE: License sticker, it can't be overridden by family in a first-person consent state; it's the driver's decision to be a donor, and her wishes can't be overruled.
RE: Facebook organ donor status, it's a fantastic way to spread the word about your willingness to be an organ donor, and when no driver's license registration exists, it can help families exercise more accurate substituted judgment.
In general agreement that there's "no better plan than for your family to understand and be on board with your decision." Designating yourself as an organ donor at your nearest BMV makes your decision legally binding.
I assumed they were doing it not for the donors, but for potential recipients. For example, suppose someone you know needs a kidney. You could look and see which of your friends would be willing to donate one, or ask them to post a message to their friends and see which of your friends-of-friends could donate. It's probably a lot more efficient and people are probably far more likely to donate to someone they know personally. And for the recipient it's probably a much faster and easier process than having to wait on a donor list.
Eventually I could see the same with bone marrow and blood type where it's a donation that you can make and keep living, but where millions of people die because there aren't enough donors.
It also helps if you have a will (and your family members know where to find it).
When you're gone it'll be easier for them if you have explicit instructions about what to do. One more data point of "they wanted to donate/not donate their organs" can only make their decision more clear.
Donor status is not a sticker in CA, it's imprinted on the license and IIRC I signed a form affirming donation during the process of getting the license.
Does that mean your family could also override your desire not to donate? I could imagine that being a total fuck you to people who had religious issues and family who didn't like them.
This is the part that terrified me:
"Here's the weird part. If you fail the apnea test, your respirator is reconnected. You will begin to breathe again, your heart pumping blood, keeping the organs fresh. Doctors like to say that, at this point, the "person" has departed the body. You will now be called a BHC, or beating-heart cadaver."
"What if there is sound evidence that you are alive after being declared brain dead? In a 1999 article in the peer-reviewed journal Anesthesiology, Gail A. Van Norman, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Washington, reported a case in which a 30-year-old patient with severe head trauma began breathing spontaneously after being declared brain dead. The physicians said that, because there was no chance of recovery, he could still be considered dead. The harvest proceeded over the objections of the anesthesiologist, who saw the donor move, and then react to the scalpel with hypertension."
While the donation of organs is a noble cause, articles like that make me question of under this noble cause, so seriously questionable behaviors have sprung up. In the end, this seems like a deeply personal decision and trying to pressure someone into making it is very questionable, but then again, it wouldn't be the first or last time another human has tried to impose their ethics on to someone else...
Whether this is a good idea or not, I have no idea. I is an interesting social experiment and it will be interesting to see the results.
But, does anyone else see a Criminal Minds episode in this? Lonely road; quiet, dark house; dank alley; victims are found one after another, the only thing tying them all together is their organ donor status on their facebook page. The villain turns out be the husband of someone who died waiting for a kidney, lung, or heart transplant.
The problem with organ donation is that insurance companies consider missing organs to be a pre-existing condition, and will reject you because of it. Go private health care!
Do you have evidence of this? It sounds like bullshit. In addition to not being denied insurance in the ten years since donating an organ, it's also the case that just to become a living donor the battery of tests you end up going through for approval essentially ensures that you're statistically healthy enough to be an amazing bet from the point of view of the insurance company.
Well, that's certainly something I won't be participating in.
Without debating the organ donation issue (which is complicated beyond what most forums can effectively discuss), this is blatantly using Facebook as Zuckerberg's personal platform for social change and a lot of personal information can be inferred from the response to this question. I find neither of those facts acceptable.
Interesting to have a corporation bully people into revealing private medical information in this way.
Even more relevant and appropriate for bragging rights than a far away future intention to donate organs would be present organ donations already done - of a kidney or bone marrow for example. Why not add that as well?
Along these lines they should consider adding lines for other medical tidbits that are elements of pride and identity for many people. For example, the number of abortions, if you're a cancer survivor, addiction status, ADHD medications, and any other interesting bits they think your friends should be aware of and might bond with you over. Some of of these tidbits might possibly even be monetizable when sold to insurance companies or others interested in such details, that's just a bonus.
Downvoters: Do you think his prediction of Facebook adding more medical information to profiles is really off-base?
I'm sure there are multiple motives going on here: one may be altruistic, but I can hear the advertisers and insurance companies salivating at the idea of these new categories of information.
""a move that it hopes will create peer pressure to nudge more people to add their names to the rolls of registered organ donors.
It is a rare foray by Facebook into social engineering from social networking, and one with a potentially profound effect, according to experts in the field of organ donation.""
You say social engineering. I say manipulating people to do something you think they should. I seriously wonder why I still use facebook.
Of all the things Facebook does that are sleazy, encouraging the saving of lives in a way that has zero downside is the thing that gets you up in arms?
[+] [-] famousactress|14 years ago|reply
Donor status on Fb sounds like a great idea for raising awareness and encouraging others to think and talk about organ donation (living and non). That said, during my process I talked to a number of professionals in the field and repeatedly got the same feedback: The sticker on your license (and likely the flag on your Fb profile) doesn't mean much in the end. If you've got living family, they'll be asked and their answer is going to hold weight. The most important thing you can do as someone who wants to be a donor is to make sure you're family is aware of your decision and willing to give the go ahead if that time comes.
Registrations like the one mentioned in the article seem like an awesome idea, but I'd still be interested to know how often they're contested by family. Bottom line is that there's probably no better plan than for your family to understand and be on board with your decision.
[+] [-] mistercow|14 years ago|reply
The flag on your FB profile will likely mean nothing officially, but practically it will mean more than the driver's license because your family is more likely to see it and be aware of it.
[+] [-] adamclayman|14 years ago|reply
Congrats on the donation. I'm working through the evaluation process myself. Do you have any advice to share?
RE: License sticker, it can't be overridden by family in a first-person consent state; it's the driver's decision to be a donor, and her wishes can't be overruled.
RE: Facebook organ donor status, it's a fantastic way to spread the word about your willingness to be an organ donor, and when no driver's license registration exists, it can help families exercise more accurate substituted judgment.
In general agreement that there's "no better plan than for your family to understand and be on board with your decision." Designating yourself as an organ donor at your nearest BMV makes your decision legally binding.
[+] [-] avichal|14 years ago|reply
Eventually I could see the same with bone marrow and blood type where it's a donation that you can make and keep living, but where millions of people die because there aren't enough donors.
P.S. Go register to be a bone marrow donor: http://marrow.org/Home.aspx
[+] [-] Splines|14 years ago|reply
When you're gone it'll be easier for them if you have explicit instructions about what to do. One more data point of "they wanted to donate/not donate their organs" can only make their decision more clear.
[+] [-] sureshv|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whackberry|14 years ago|reply
The "living" part is redundant.
[+] [-] tomjen3|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kruipen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sologoub|14 years ago|reply
"What if there is sound evidence that you are alive after being declared brain dead? In a 1999 article in the peer-reviewed journal Anesthesiology, Gail A. Van Norman, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Washington, reported a case in which a 30-year-old patient with severe head trauma began breathing spontaneously after being declared brain dead. The physicians said that, because there was no chance of recovery, he could still be considered dead. The harvest proceeded over the objections of the anesthesiologist, who saw the donor move, and then react to the scalpel with hypertension."
While the donation of organs is a noble cause, articles like that make me question of under this noble cause, so seriously questionable behaviors have sprung up. In the end, this seems like a deeply personal decision and trying to pressure someone into making it is very questionable, but then again, it wouldn't be the first or last time another human has tried to impose their ethics on to someone else...
[+] [-] brudgers|14 years ago|reply
For more detail see Science Journalist Dick Teresi on Book TV discussing "The Undead."
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/305225-1
[+] [-] georgieporgie|14 years ago|reply
NPR Fresh Air interview with Dick Teresi, who wrote the WSJ article you linked: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/19/148296627/blurring-the-line-be...
[+] [-] whackberry|14 years ago|reply
Everything they do is meant to collect personal data, but they always have the perfect excuse for doing it.
[+] [-] ceejayoz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonursenbach|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fuzzylizard|14 years ago|reply
But, does anyone else see a Criminal Minds episode in this? Lonely road; quiet, dark house; dank alley; victims are found one after another, the only thing tying them all together is their organ donor status on their facebook page. The villain turns out be the husband of someone who died waiting for a kidney, lung, or heart transplant.
[+] [-] olliej|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] famousactress|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whackberry|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awj|14 years ago|reply
Without debating the organ donation issue (which is complicated beyond what most forums can effectively discuss), this is blatantly using Facebook as Zuckerberg's personal platform for social change and a lot of personal information can be inferred from the response to this question. I find neither of those facts acceptable.
[+] [-] brudgers|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] droithomme|14 years ago|reply
Even more relevant and appropriate for bragging rights than a far away future intention to donate organs would be present organ donations already done - of a kidney or bone marrow for example. Why not add that as well?
Along these lines they should consider adding lines for other medical tidbits that are elements of pride and identity for many people. For example, the number of abortions, if you're a cancer survivor, addiction status, ADHD medications, and any other interesting bits they think your friends should be aware of and might bond with you over. Some of of these tidbits might possibly even be monetizable when sold to insurance companies or others interested in such details, that's just a bonus.
[+] [-] natesm|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thebigshane|14 years ago|reply
I'm sure there are multiple motives going on here: one may be altruistic, but I can hear the advertisers and insurance companies salivating at the idea of these new categories of information.
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] horsehead|14 years ago|reply
It is a rare foray by Facebook into social engineering from social networking, and one with a potentially profound effect, according to experts in the field of organ donation.""
You say social engineering. I say manipulating people to do something you think they should. I seriously wonder why I still use facebook.
[+] [-] ceejayoz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jQueryIsAwesome|14 years ago|reply
"Oh, everyone is using black t-shirts in my classroom, I don't know why but I better start wearing one"
[+] [-] Porter_423|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Craiggybear|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]