As someone with stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer and a genetic abnormality that has helped me survive much longer than I should, I've chosen to donate my body to the teaching hospital where I've been receiving treatments. They're actually excited about the possibility, seeing as how neuroendocrine cancer is highly uncommon and doesn't act like other cancers, and my liver is extremely efficient, being able to process narcotic painkillers like they're candy and function at normal levels even with only 20% of it not being tumors. I'm hoping my donation will be able to help people both understand neuroendocrine cancer better, and perhaps lead to genetic understanding and implementation of my liver's strength to others.
I'm a medical student and I've worked with more human cadavers than i can count. I can't put into words how incredibly grateful I am to the donors and their families. It's such an invaluable learning tool to be able to work with real human tissues, and my first teacher in this field really hammered it home for me - these aren't just specimen to work with, they're my patients and they deserve the same dignity and respect that i give to my living patients.
Thank you for commenting and sharing your experience as a medical student! My husband and I have both filled out the paperwork to have our bodies donated to the medical school in our city. I love learning and love the idea that, even in death, I can still be a part of advancing knowledge to the betterment of medical training and care. Now I'm going to look back over the paperwork to make sure the Wake Forest School of Medicine will be the actual recipient of my corpse!
@@nyxskids yep! one day we were trying to find the gallbladder on one lady and all we could find was the clips they leave behind after they do a gallbladder removal surgery. it's fairly common.
@@samwarren2850 cool thanks! I'm looking to sign my body over to the local teaching hospital/university and I don't have a gallbladder funny enough. It's good to know missing that won't keep me from donating.
Im very sorry for your loss. Becoming an organ donor is a very difficult decision to make and thanks to you and Jana, I am able to see out of my right eye again.
My husband was an organ donor. It was hard because they have to take them pretty quickly after they die, but I knew he had signed up to be one and I knew that was his wish. Months afterwards I got a letter thanking him/me for corneas that two people needed. It made me feel like he is living on in them.
Very sorry for your loss. I love your outlook though, what a beautiful way to remember him. Hope you're doing better and wish you all the happiness in the world.
Rip. I got my sorry excuse of organs up for grabs after I'm doa. But, if they can help anyone for even a few days, I'd want my loved ones on this mortal coil for as long as possible.
I just have to say that I spent well over a decade being a medical training actor (portraying roles like "Woman With Migraine," "Pregnant Woman Who's Still Smoking," "Woman Getting Diagnosed With Ovarian Cancer," etc), and we really did have backstories like John was joking about! That's totally accurate! Our characters were based on real patient files, and we were given whole personal histories to learn so that we could better interact with the med students and answer their questions. I loved that work, and I thought the actress in the video was fantastic!
Those roles sound hilarious in a list like this! Thank you for your work, though. We as a whole race of people need to know how to handle tough situations before they occur to prevent stupid mistakes being made or regretful things being said.
“The haunting memories of lost love. May I? Lights? Our eyes met across the crowded hat store. I, a customer, and she a coquettish haberdasher. Oh, I pursued and she withdrew, then she pursued and I withdrew, and so we danced. I burned for her, much like the burning during urination that I would experience soon afterwards.” Kramer, Seinfeld.
We donated our 9yr old daughter’s heart, liver, and kidneys. She saved 4 lives. Kinda hard to watch the dog eating up the human heart 🫀…. No one probably will read this but I felt I wanted to state it anyway, signed a mom that still grieves.
As someone whose life was saved by an organ transplant, any waste of a viable organ is sickening to me since I know how precious they are. Although I found, as usual, other parts of the show funny, that clip was revolting.
One of my cousins has cystic fibrosis and was supposed to die in his teens. He was able to get a double lung transplant and is now almost in his late 30s, married and has two kids. God bless that person and their family, their loss helped him gain his whole family. So thankful he’s still around.
My cousin also had cystic fibrosis and had a double lung transplant just before covid. I'm so glad she made it. We hadn't seen each other since we were teens and I finally got to go visit her this past year. She's improving all the time and we are all glad to still have her with us. 🙂
@@kendalbrenneman that’s pretty much exactly what happened with mine! I was going to be in his area on vacation when he told me that we could meet up. He ended up canceling because he got notified about the double lung that was available and he had to go right away for surgery. He felt bad having to cancel but I was thrilled! That has been the best reason I’ve ever gotten for someone to break plans with me and the fact that he’s now thriving it’s even better.
I’m so happy your cousin is doing well, CF is so difficult to live with and my childhood best friend lost her battle with it. I hope your cousin continues to not only survive but thrive in this world.
@@CherryRedBanshee Thank you, me too! I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. My cousin is doing well, thank goodness. She has been very careful. She recently got news that someone in her neighbourhood who had gotten new lungs around the same time as she did recently passed away, so it's a good reminder to keep up her precautions.
I decided to sign up after Drivers Ed in highschool. The instructor was an old man, (I’d like to say early 70’s?) and he told us about his wife who had passed, and how she had donated her organs. He showed us the letter he was sent from a family whose daughter got her eyes and was able to see fully. It was clearly important to him, and I signed up when I got my license.
My driving instructor told us his wife signed up and they told him her body was unfit do to an STD didn’t tell us which one, but thats how he found out he had it. Not the same story but kind of interesting
My 23 year old son has an autoimmune disease that will eventually require a liver transplant. I worry so much he won’t get one on time. Thank you for signing up to be a donor.
Spain has been the lead in organ donation in the world for more than 20 years. We have opt-out system but the experts say than the main factor to the success is the organization of the whole program. When Croatia asked consultation to Spain about the program, they became the 2nd woldwide in organ donation.
The Netherlands just started an opt-out system for organ donation as well, because organ donation there was around 10% prior to the implementation of this policy.
Spain actually has fewer donors per death than the U.S. and a lower transplant rate than the U.S. that’s because they (and no country) actually relies on the Opt-Out law and always follow family decision. The U.S. has opt-in and relies on the registered donor’s decision rather than family choice…unless the possible donor isn’t registered. No nation has higher rates than the U.S.
When you put people that want to profit in charge of this kind of stuff they will lie to keep the money. That's why you need to be public, at least you can see the problems
Yeah I’m way past wanting the current economic system to regulate anything in anyway. That just blatantly doesn’t work. It’s crazy too because capitalism doesn’t have a requirement in the definition to be so unregulated that the consumer suffers massively compared to the corporations, yet here we are.
Organ donation would be more popular if some of the millions of dollars each donation nets, were donated to the family of the donor, instead of only going to organ brokers. 🤷♂️
My dad did his surgical residency at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, so he knew how important real bodies are for medical training. He donated his body to Emory medical school, and near his death at 96, as his caregiver I carried the paperwork with me at all times so that when he passed away arrangements could immediately be made. While the school made use of Dad’s body we had a memorial service, and when the school was finished they cremated and returned him to me for burial. When I picked up his cremains I learned he had been used for emergency room training. Appropriate, since he was an ER surgeon for many years.
Your father sounds like an amazing man ❤ Also a good point about not getting the body back for some time. My friend's mom's body was kept for almost 2 years and she didn't realize that was a possibility, she felt like it delayed her grief process so people should consider that.
My sister died about 10 years ago now, and I must say the cards and letters we get sent from some of the donor recipients are very comforting. We got quite a few at the start, which really show the difference it's made to some of their lives. Some donors are still writing to us about life events such as college graduations, marriages and children. As recently as last year one woman who got her lungs sent a picture of her first baby. My favourite part of all this was her eyes allowed 2 blind people to see one for the first time, and another getting her sight back, and reading the thank you letters from them. Obviously, it's all anonymous and we can't contact them, but they can relay letters to us. Niamh died of Meningitis at the age of 15, so literally every part of her was healthy and ideal for donations. She had given consent in her work vehicle permit and I'd urge everyone to tick the box on their driver's licence form.
Wow. I'm on a waiting list and I'm not sure whether to send news or not if and when an organ (heart) turns up. I'll have to ask. As a donor, I would be so happy to hear back from a recipient. I was/am a donor but unfortunately am now in need of a heart. All we can say is talk about organ donation. It's seems so obviously evident to have a donor's card on you if ever anything happens to you. But as he says - It's too late once in the hospital. Talk about it while it's time. It may be a "tabou" subject in the USA, but here in Europe it's quite natural to tell your friends and family that you are an organ donor.
My uncle received a liver from a donor in 2019 and I think about their family often. I wish I could thank them. My little cousin gets to have her father in her life for longer thanks to that donor.
We never knew the name of the man that died so that my dad could have a new healthy lung. It gave him several more years of life. I would tell his family their loved one’s gift gave my dad the second chance he needed to develop a better relationship with his kids and arrive at a sort of redemption as a result. I’m very thankful for that gift today, and I send that feeling to the family whenever I think about it.
I lost my wife on March of 22. She was a donor. Her donations have helped my grief in so many ways. She's helped restore 3 people vision. That's the ones I i know about. I wish it was easier for Donor families to find out what the donations are used for. I understand anonymity. The eye bank provided me with the information after a request. They didn't disclose any names. Thank you for doing a piece in this subject. If you're not a donor already, please consider becoming one. You could be saving lives and making people's quality of life better from beyond the grave. That's pretty amazing to me! I love you Rebecca Lynn Smith. Thank you for your selfless donations. I miss you so much.😢
Just curious, and this may be a silly question, but how did she help people regain sight 3 times if we only have 2 eyes? Was it her eyes themselves or something else?
@@MisterChubz The eye can be used for two purposes upon donation, corneal transplant and sclera (the white part) replacement. A careful practitioner can like utilize a single donation for both purposes.
Sorry for your loss 😔 My uncle died in 2019 of lung cancer after being a chronic smoker for many years, and my dad (his next of kin) was contacted by a donor agency. Idk if any other parts of my uncle’s body were good enough, but as far as I’m aware, his corneas were good enough to be used to help others.
My birthday is March 22nd and I am an organ donor, I also work in the medical field as a C-MA and I'm currently in college (again) getting my RN license/degree. I'll be thinking of her when I celebrate my birthday 💕 She made a selfless decision to donate, I bet she was a wonderful woman.
@Toonox Me too. But it was an easy transition. I was already near tears laughing at the previous joke about the teeth, and they were released with the emotional impact of that clip with the heart recipient..😂😭
That moment got me, too. Absolutely incredible. Also the fact that humans as a species have figured out how to take organs from one body and put them in another body while retaining their original function is truly remarkable. The doctors and surgeons who have dedicated their careers to performing these operations and saving lives have got to be some of the most compassionate people alive.
I'm in the process of donating a kidney to a swedish friend I know from the internet. We met for the first time during compatibility testing last month. Good news! We're compatible! The donation happens this february!
Seems like way too much of a liability for a company like Amazon. You don't want just anyone handling organ donations. They may, however, consider helping to create a better software tracking system or at the very least be used as a model for a new one.
Surgeon here: I’ve never seen a more realistic interaction with a patient’s family than that demo video. Most patients and families are reasonable, but 10% of the time they are exactly like this. I used to volunteer in an anatomy lab where a lot of bodies were gifted for science, and a few grandparents definitely ended up in a abandoned factory with rebar shoved in their chest as part of realistic special forces medic training. The worst was a 16-year-old girl, who died of a brain cancer, donated her body to study the cancer that killed her, but there were no active studies being done and her donation was rejected by a neuroscience. Unfortunately, we ended up using her skin and flesh for suture practice Because it was deemed too distressing for students to use her as an anatomy cadaver. Maybe I’m soft, but defleshing a 16 year old girl with painted fingernails was the worst experience I’ve ever had, and I’ve seen some bad shit as a surgeon
There's so much under the surface isn't there, beyond just the flesh of our bodies after we're gone. I hope you always remain soft regardless of all you see 💔
I lost my wife in 2012 while she was on the liver transplant list. If we had insurance that included transplant centers in Florida she would probably be alive now because they have more donors due to no helmet laws for motorcycles. At one time she was number two on the list here in California but she didnt make it. As the system is you have to tread a fine line of being sick enough but not too sick (and therefore a poor candidate for surgery). The system leaves a lot to be desired but I would plead with everyone to be a donor and to talk to your kids about being donors
Especially with liver donations. You can be a living donor and your liver should recover completely with time as it is the only organ that is completely capable of regeneration. You don't need motorcyclists to kiss asphalt, healthy living people can step up and save the lives of those who need a liver
I feel for your loss and sympathise as seeing someone fade away while waiting every day for a life saving all to me made would be heart breaking. Though I would also say that asking for donors when they are expected to do it for free with little compensation in a country that their out of pocket costs should something go wrong after the donation essentially devalues the person doing the donation. A thumbs up and a thank you would not make up for their potential loss of income or other complications received from their charitable act. I also know that when money is involved it invites the worst society has to offer, the problem is governments are not great at regulation as money always gets in the way and makes it a all or nothing equation. Yet if proper regulation was to be put into place and there was full transparency for legal compensation of to live donors, then the list would suddenly shrink as the wealthy patients would afford to go though the process and the poorer patients would have less people to compete with for the the more traditional organ donations. And yes to prevent self abuse it would be easy to include in the process a mental health check of the people signing up for compensated donations (at the paying patients expense) to ensure that the person providing the organ is doing so from a stable environment for the right reasons and are not being forced to do it via underhanded or even criminal reasons. The TLDR: Compensating for live organ donations would work with proper regulation and yes they would raise the usual questions of a two tired society (but that would exist regardless) the large influx of organs would also protect the lives of those who are on waiting lists and this is more then reason enough to make it legal with proper regulation.
A man in my city became famous when he found out one of his customers needed a kidney, and he immediately went to find out if he was a viable donor. He gave the man his kidney, and he then gave organ donors a discount at his permanent food stall. He passed away a few years ago and his assistant took over the stall, keeping up the organ donor discount, and the seating area beside the stall is plastered with pictures of the original owner with organ donors and he has a stand on the counter with info on becoming an organ donor, and ways to donate to local groups for organ transplants.
in austria every person is automatically registered as an organ donor, but what i think is even cooler is that if an organ becomes available at a hospital and the reciever is an old person who can't get to that hospital, the paramedics drive them there, all paid for by insurance. there is a lot wrong with our health care system, but sometimes it's pretty great
The ride is standard in every country with a functioning healthcare system. Edit: to the people telling me "America" doesn't have a functioning healthcare system. 1) I know. 2) Do you guys realize the USA aren't the only country in America, in the internet or in the world?
@@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460ours is functioning if you can afford the Tolls required to access the express lane level of care. Otherwise it's the lane your employer decided your worth or the only public roads allowed for retired workers and workers who don't make enough money to get health care privately.
I work at one of the largest transplant hospitals in the us. I get Healthcare through work. Despite working at a huge transplant hospital my health insurance does not cover being a living donor. So would cost me over $100,000 to donate a kidney. That's pretty fucked up. Good job America
Whaaaat? You have to pay to become a donor, that's ridiculous! John Oliver should've mentioned this too. I think the system should be changed to register to opt out instead of opting in...we should all be automatically donors.
@@blackbird7842 This thread is about people who donate one of their kidneys while they are still alive so a stranger in need can live another ten years. Making it the automatic default may raise a few polite objections.
I’m in the hospital now, waiting on heart surgery later this week to keep me alive until I can hopefully one day receive a heart transplant… I’m a huge fan and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at an opening of this show before. Informative, important, and hilarious. You are an absolute treasure, and much appreciated. Love and greetings from Kansas City tonight 🌻
May you have a full anf speedy renewal of body, mind and spirit. May you be able to exercise as much free will as possible. May those tending to you be strengthened as well. ❤
Hope you're doing well, and that they deliver that new heart to you in something other than a scotch-taped styrofoam cooler, in a hospital free of starving golden retrievers!
Best of luck my guy. I got my heart transplant in 2019. I played video games the whole time when I was waiting in the hospital. I hope you have something to “get lost” in while you wait. Sending positive vibes.
Multi-organ transplant recipient here - the option to list someone on more than one transplant list didn't surface in my case until it was nearly too late. I spent 4 or 5 years waiting for desperately needed organs, and the only thing that kept me from dying during the wait was the family member of another long-suffering child in need of new organs. This mother pulled my own mother aside after seeing that we had been waiting so long and basically said, "Listen, I don't know if people know you can do this, but get your kid listed somewhere else if you can." My family did just that and once I had been placed on a new list in another state, I received a donor within a week. And this was over 20 years ago. So yeah, the organ sharing system we've got now is absolutely ineffective. Any time when the people doing the suffering know more than the people doing the science, there's bound to be trouble.
@@diannworrell106 Ohhhh, my goodness. Through a transfusion? I am surprised and not surprised simultaneously. You're right that getting put on multiple lists seems to violate the principles designed to keep the organ-sharing process fair - before my own transplants, I distinctly recall the public debate over allocation. A lot of people believed organs should go to the sickest patients instead of the closest/easiest patients (to the extent that both types of patients can even be compared). I will admit that part of me sees the situation as needlessly hopeless regardless of how donor organs are allocated - the entire conversation is moot when those donor organs get misplaced or lost.
Yep. I work in transplant research at a center with a fantastic program. Our patients get transplanted within 2-4 weeks usually. We take organs, transplant anybody.
Just take a moment to appreciate that Jesus organ donation ad though. Everything from the guy being like "😬 Yeah, awkward timing, nobody want's to talk about death, but-" and then Jesus ending the convo with a simple "Well of course I'd do it, I'm Jesus!"
My dad passed away when we were kids. I discovered years later in family documents that she donated his organs to others, There was a letter from the hospital thanking her and saying that all the organ transplants receivers are well and in good recovery thanks to her and my dad. That was shocking and very emotional. I think it's a waste not to give our organs or your body to science (if you can't donate due to illness, etc.)
I cannot say that very often at all. But America could learn about organ transplants with Brazil. Our system is fucking amazing. Here if you need a heart doesn’t take more than 3 months and usually in 50% of cases it takes less than a month. Oh and btw it’s all free of charges
As someone who's life almost ended at 17 due to hepatic failure from a mitochondrial disease I am 1000% donating whatever useable body parts I have to people who need them.
I'm surprised they didn't make reference to the special video they made for Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi to promote organ donation. It's a very moving music video starting his cousin Peter Capaldi and it brings me to tears everytime.
I don't think I've had a bigger slap in the face than having my mom waiting for a kidney and going through the rigamarole of trying to get a donor, only to pass away and have a donor organization reach out less than 24 hours later to try and get her organs. The system is beyond awful
I am a body transporter, and weekly I am taking several bodies to universities for their body donation programs. Specifically, Ohio State University and Wright State University here in Ohio. If you are wanting to sign up to have your body donated, please research the universities in your state. This way, you can guarantee your body will be used for real medical science research and training. I can't speak for all university body donation programs, but they are amazing. The bodies are used for future surgeons, doctors, nurses, case studies, etc. They can also be used for calamity training for first responders, police, military, and civilians for when natural or man-made disasters happen. The universities use the bodies for these purposes, and when they are done, they are cremated free of charge and can be sent back to the family, or buried on-site at the university. Many do annual Remembrance Day ceremonies inviting the family and friends of those donated their bodies.
I once looked into a university body farm for forensic studies in my state. Unfortunately, I live too far so my family would have to pay for transportation. I'm considering setting up a special account for this despite having very little resources. It seems to be the best option to ensure that I do not leave my family with any financial burden, and I am comfortable knowing what will happen.
My dad was #6 on the list for a heart when he died. It would have been nice for him to have known he could have registered in other places. It could have saved his life and saved me from becoming an orphan at 13.
I am so sorry! And as an organ recipient, who was also not told they could multicast, ( in fact it was discouraged), your story breaks my heart. I am also so angry that some doctors decision basically ruined a big part of your life! It took me a LOOON time to research and "fight the system". I was gaslit by nephrologist, and dialysis centers who would have loved to keep me sick, suffering on dialysis forever. Because I was their cash cow. So now that I barely scraped by, and listed out of state, and yes I did get a kidney transplant, I now advocate, and basically tell all dialysis patients the TRUTH! I hand out brochures that I made, and I give them information, on how to Geta transplant out of state. I do if for the ethics and principal of the matter. I do it forepeople like your dad, who came so close to receiving a new heart!. And I do it as a FU to the very broken allocation system.
In my kinesiology class we had two cadavers. The first two hour lecture was about respect for people who made the choice to leave their bodies to science.
My anatomy class was the same. It was thoroughly emphasized that we should even talk about the cadavers as if we knew them in life/they were a loved one.
I'm about to head back to school and in an anatomy course, there is an option for a cadaver lab. I want to take it because I feel it can add a lot to my understanding; but at the same time, I feel like I would start viewing the human body differently and lose some empathy.
@@TheDancerMacabrethink of it this way, or, I’ll start by asking if you have been to a funeral before, especially one with an open casket. Some people haven’t, less common in some areas than others from my understanding. My grandpa owned a funeral home, and my buddy is going into a program to learn the trade. 1) cool people to do that, guaranteed job security, and a funeral director/mortuary staff that excels at their job provides a certain comfort to a family that’s absolutely important during that time. Not related at all to your comment, but my grandpa was really good at the “people” side of the business, and idk, seems like they can be this rock of guidance during a rough time that’s typically a bit confusing and stressful for those still living. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m assuming you have the ability to differentiate between real/hallucenation, and this is just a different skill set of that, in a way. We, as humans, are technically an amalgam of different parts, liquids, chemicals, all that whatnot. But, there’s a certain aspect beyond that in living beings. Humans have consciences, but even other animals are more than the sum of their parts. I’m sure your brain will be able to filter that information in real-time exactly like you’d need it to. I’d be surprised if learning about how human beings are constructed and out of what will make you view things in a cold, harsh light you’ve never seen them before. I’d say go for it, and I’m sure if it makes you uncomfortable you can always bail. You definitely won’t get this opportunity to experience this ever again, unless some real weird things happen to happen for ya later in life…..like murder….
@@TheDancerMacabre it's definitely a fine line (though im speaking not from experience, but from conversations with MANY relatives who are physicians). i think ultimately it can actually enhance your capability for empathy and human care/connection; just takes a lot of consistent mental re-affirming as to what you're doing it for, and respect for those who literally gave themselves for the future of medicine and humanity
My wife is a 63-year-old orchestra teacher with polycystic kidney disease. After an entire career spent trying to keep her programs alive in the schools where she’s worked, she’s facing the challenge of keeping herself alive. Orchestra is generally at the top of the list of programs cut when funds are low. She and I both forgot to get rich during our working lives. Navigating the transplant system is pretty daunting. You made an excellent summary as usual. It’s even more complicated down in the labyrinth. She feels pretty disposable a lot of the time.
I hope that your wife and you are able to navigate the transplant wait list. Blessings to her for all her contributions in the education, especially orchestra. She’s touched thousands of lives in that career. Blessings to you both. ❤
Please thank her for bringing the beauty of music to kids like I was. One of my fondest memories of orchestra was how our bow strings would move up and down together. It gave me the feeling of being a part of a beautiful flowing wheat field and reminded me how everyone literally has a part to play in our unity. ❤️
I’m an organ donor, and donated stem cells to my brother who had cancer. Curing his cancer was the best thing I’ve done since giving birth. There was lots of counseling from people at the hospital making sure I wasn’t being coerced. Coerced! I was so honored to be about the only person in the world to be able to save my brother’s life!
That’s great, I’m glad to hear your brother is doing well!! But they definitely needed to make sure you weren’t being coerced just because you are his family. You’d be shocked at the amount of parents who have second children just for the purpose to save their first sick child, it’s actually genuinely disgusting behavior.
@@acrollieyes, and it's also a good example of how important we regard bodily autonomy except when it comes to pregnant women. Can't make me do anything with my body to save a life bc it's my body my choice, but then say oh unless that "life" is a fetus depending on your body, then all of a sudden you don't get bodily autonomy. Ridiculous.
My father was an organ donor. Half his heart and also his corneas went to other people. My mother elected to never meet the recipients (she felt it'd make them feel guilty for living when her husband just died), but I like to think that they went to someone with kids, and said kids got to have more time with their mom or dad. The cornea went to a little girl. I hope her life is going well, she's probably an adult by now.
@@deathXbyXlight That's really cool; I didn't know you could donate half a heart. I've always assumed that the risks of messing with the integrity of such a sensitive organ (like cutting into it would weaken the fibres or valves) meant that you always needed to use the whole unit.
Been in dozens of adult and pediatric ICU Family Lounges and Consultation Rooms over the years for discussions such as these. *That training video is incredibly accurate.* Doctors and OPO employees are the recipient of so much verbal abuse from grieving families, but it doesn't make it any easier. America as a whole doesn't do well talking about death and being ready for what comes after. We would do well to normalize that conversation earlier in life.
My brother went in for outpatient surgery at the age of three. I remember missing days worth of school (I was in the second grade) and still not having any answers as to why he hadn’t woken up. Three days after he went under (and three days of no explanation from several doctors) a woman approached my parents asking what they’d decided to do with his organs, and when they responded with horrified confusion she just said, “The doctor hasn’t talked to you yet?” and then walked away without another word. That’s how my mom and dad found out their three-year-old son wasn’t coming home. I don’t envy that job but I sure as hell know that isn’t the way to go about doing it.
@lawrencetchen - It is clear that you know just how complex this topic is. My experience was at the bedside as a pediatric ICU nurse who cared for many, many donors and recipients as well as with our local OPO. As a matter of policy, I did not discuss organ transplantation with donor families unless they spontaneously and specifically brought it up, at which point I advised them that it was an option and that there would be someone arriving soon to speak to them. There is so much more to this topic beyond the ranting of John Oliver done for comedic effect. His ignorance of the process is profound.
@@wickedcabinboyI see you here all over these comments and you clearly have some kind of specific opinion... Just post it on main so we can see what you're getting at??
Two days from now will be the 8-year anniversary of my father's death. We could not afford to bury or cremate the body because my family lived fairly close to the poverty line at that point. An organization contacted us after my father was declared brain dead, and promised his body would be used for science and offered to cremate him after and return us the ashes. When we got my father back, which only took a month or two they included a pamphlet that talked about several of the possible scenarios that my father's body may have been used for. At the top of the list was, and I kid you not, "ballistic science" and that is just as fucked up as you can imagine it is. "Science" is not always "medical science." Do your research. Know your facts. Be prepared.
This video is good except for that it needed to tell people how to withdraw from this system. I'm a pretty isolated person and not at all confident that my wishes would be followed through properly, so I actually would love some advice on how to withdraw from this entirely.
If you don't actively sign up to have your body donated for science, you never enter this system, so you don't have to withdraw. However I don't think there are currently good options to control what your body is being used for, should you decide to donate it. I guess the best you can do is research the exact company you want to donate your body to thoroughly and make sure they only use it for things you would be ok with @@kitcoffey7194
@@kitcoffey7194 Lol why dont you bury your money with you while you sre at it. In most civilized nation you sre automatically a donor and can choose to op out, in the us you are alredy out better to bury yourself with everything you have rather that give somethign to someone in need.
and you only got said pamphlet afterwards? this says about everything. but I suppose in the US extensive research is necessary to see how all those school children, teachers and staff are killed daily by mass shootings.
I may be a heartless dickhead but “ballistic science”, if It is what I think it can be very important as well and I don’t really see an issue with doing that to a donor. I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with that, nor would I have an issue with my body being in that weird museum thing.
I’m a veterinary student and we use donated pets for our anatomy course. I am so grateful to get to learn with these cadavers that were once beloved family members. We refer to the cadavers by their names and we give them pats. We get quite attached to them and they teach us a great deal ❤
Omg do you know how to make sure your pet does that? I’m very pro donating bodies as was my sister who owned my cat before me and I think we’d both love to help the next generation of veterinarians
@@juliathompson101Get in contact with a specific university that has a vet program and call and ask. You can do the same thing with your own body. For example if you get in contact with KU or UW’s “willed body program” then you can ensure your body goes to them specifically if you die in the right conditions rather than just to general medical research. You can fill out paperwork “willing” it to them specifically.
I'm a doctor and people have said a lot meaner things to me than the woman in the video 😂 I love the acting In my training I've also met living donors, seen organ procurement from decreased donors, and met recipients before and after surgery. I have the upmost respect and gratitude for donors and families 🙏
My mother in law donated her while body to science. She told us about it beforehand, and since she eventually chose to end her life with medical assistance , we were able to contact the "pick up" people and have a conversation about what would happen at what time. We had 3 hours with her body since she would not be able to donate any organs due to her cancer. It was a gentle process and I'm still glad she got all of her choices respected.
I'm a retired attorney from Oregon. I had a client dying of cancer and she wanted to go the way of assisted suicide, but her doctor only gave her days to live. I contacted the teaching hospital and specifically put in her will that her body would go there for research. That is one way people can ensure their body is used for science. I did all the work pro bono, BTW, as my last gift to her, her last wish.
@jjcarter3567 ppl don't really have a say. Some ppl found out their loved one's bodies were being used as targets for tge military to practice on. Anyone willing to donate their body is ONLY making that choice because of being misinformed
As a Retired Veteran with a Heart Transplant, 3 things are difficult for me to deal with. 1. In the first 5 years since my heart failure (at age 29), between an LVAD and the Heart...the VA has covered all the insurance costs...which has totaled over $14million. 2. Heart Transplants last about 15-20yrs currently. 3. I will never meet my Hero who gave me my life back.
The transplant process is a real struggle that most people won't understand. It's takes a strong mind to go through it. Just having to go through LVAD makes you a boss. I had a patient the other day with a transplanted heart that had hit the 25 yr mark. They're getting really good at managing transplanted hearts now.
So many feelings at seeing my friend Tonya Ingram on Last Week Tonight. She spent the rest of her life waiting for a kidney transplant that never came. Her story is so important.
I'm so upset that she passed she deserved better than to be treated that way they ought to be ashamed talking to her like that and not helping her out. I'm so sorry for your loss and everyone else that knew her she seems like she was a sharp kind lady in need of compassion and real help.
Sorry for your loss. It happened to my friend from high school. He was high up on the list but sicker people kept cutting him in line and eventually he got too sick and died too It sucks the way the world is if our friends were rich they would have been able to have just bought an organ and paid for the surgery all at once in South America.
I would like to know more about Tonya's story, If you don't mind. I feel I can relate to her. I too am a female about her age who fought like hell to get my transplant! I was ready and prepared to talk to congress. I waited fora kidney transplant for almost 9 years here in CA. I never got the call. Well, I did get a call, but they couldn't find a pilot, nor an airplane. So it wasn't offered to me. I somehow scratched and clawed my way to get registered for a kidney in AZ. Thats who called me for a kidney within 1 year. So now I advocate for other people who are still suffering on dialysis, and are uninformed as how to multicast in another state. Because I know how hard it is. Its brutal. I am so deeply sorry for your friend. I wish I could have met her.
My stepdad lived 14 years with a heart transplant, and my stepmom is still alive today after receiving lungs over a decade ago. That is 25 years of additional life experiences that no one would have had if it weren’t for organ donations.
I'm the mother of one of those organ recipients last year (live donor liver) and this is something I've wanted to see more national news outlets cover this for a long time. We were insanely lucky that the ONE live donor (my child's aunt) who was tested was a perfect match or we could've been waiting for a long time and I know others who waited entirely too long because of how the system is set up. This is so important, thank you SO much for discussing it and your personal push for being an organ donor ❤
My husband was lucky with me. We discovered I was a universal kidney donor and could donate to almost anyone. I just donated my kidney to my husband in July after he just got on the list in May and debating on donating part of my liver to someone in a few years too. It’s a great feeling to donate but weird too. I jokey go and talk to his belly and say “how’s my girl doing?” 😂
@@silverpurkat That's awesome! One of the other babies with the same disease my son has got an altruistic donation from someone who donated her kidney to her brother already, so she's a 2x donor!
What I don't understand is why more hospitals don't do live liver donations. The hospital I work with that does liver transplants only work with cadaveric organs that are purchased from the OPO.
rich people jumping in front of the lists by design and getting organs much faster than other human beings is just the icing on the cake - and people genuinely believe there isnt a class-system with one deeply entrenched powerful owner class that you can only reach by being born into it
It tracks though. Of course they get organs faster then less wealthy people, we're talking about people who look at medical costs as pocket change and would laugh if someone were to show them their own medical bill. This country was built for the people and restructured for the wealthy. When a poor person dies due to a failing medical system no one bats an eye, when a rich person dies the country grinds to a halt and boards are formed to ensure no rich life is ever lost that way again. If ever there is an immortality drug made I guarantee it will cost no less than a million dollars.
Hey Steve Jobs wasn't born as rich as he became! He just abused the talents of others and had them worked hellish hours to constantly keep up with a vision that eventually forced his own company to downsize him! I'm sure he made good use of his new liver when he died from cancer thinking he could heal cancer better than actual doctors!
You’re a hero John Oliver. Never has one person so consistently provided important information in such a humorous yet many times gentle way. And yes. I am aware you have a team of writers 😊 Keep up the good work ❤
When my husband died at 47, 9 years ago, I received a phone call 5 hours later asking if I would consider donating my husband’s tissues, bones and cornea. I said yes and then one year later I received a letter from the NJ Caring Network telling me about all the people my husband helped. A man in Illinois received his corneas and got his sight back. Many others were helped as well by this donation. Because my husband was not the healthiest and it had been so many hours after his death no organs could be used. I wholeheartedly support organ donations.
We received letters from the Lions Eye Bank. They never give one person both, two people get the gift of sight. We have donated two sons. One in 2000 and another in 2012. The letters we received from bone grafts for spines (eliminating pain) and organ recipients, make healing much easier, especially when they are allowed and encouraged to send a thank letter. In memory of Kyle and Gary M. Hendel. They live on
I'm glad I wasn't the only one convinced that they'd actually gone and done that. Also rather glad they didn't, as it seems an odd reason to spend budget money when it could be saved for another year-end explosion or an informational video advert about a chronic disease using big name actors. I would not be very happy knowing they'd spent money on human teeth, even at such a comparitively low cost.
I literally mouthed _Nooo_ when he grabbed the box, I was in denial, I'm not sure if I thought it was going to be empty or not. I hoped it was a joke, but you can never quite know with John Oliver.
I just got my kidney transplant that I have needed since I was 12, on December 21, 2023, just a few weeks after my 34th birthday. I hate to see how often kidney transplants are a dehumanizing punchline in TV shows and movies. really amazing to see this covered with a healthy mix of dark humour and really sincere coverage on the topic, but that's classic last week tonight isn't it?
As an Amazon worker myself for over half a decade, I’ve seen plenty of expensive things in squished boxes, some with tire marks on them, and things in California that are addressed to Florida and somehow ended up here, but I have yet to see a human organ squished run over, and sent via airplane a thousand miles in the wrong direction. Maybe we need Amazon Prime Body.
John's eyes teared up near the end... I know emotions and decency does not live in the heart but I'd say whoever receives his heart will be lucky. (along with all the other organ recipients everywhere).
Here in the Netherlands, you are automatically registered as a donor. You have to actively unregister yourself to not ve a donor. This is the best way to counter lazy people that dont take the time to register themselves, even though they wouldnt mind to be a donor
It's not as streamlined as that, but in the US you are asked explicitly if you would like to be an organ donor when registering to vote and getting an ID or driver's license, and they send you home with a pamphlet on it regardless of your answer. You do have to explicitly tell someone 'no' to not be included in the program. I don't know if laziness is necessarily the problem here. For context, I am an organ donor, but I currently live pretty close to a very rural area. The licensing department requires clerks to ask about organ donation. Moreso, with the problems that exist within our medical system, with doctor's directly ignoring and abusing patients, people choose to opt out of donation due to a fear that doctors will not try to save them in a medical emergency, and instead choose to let them die to harvest their organs. There have been people debunking this, stating that doctors do not have access to those records, but I think the fear still persists given how many people have medical horror stories of doctors taking negligence to the point of appearing malicious. These problems are very interconnected, and the roots would need to be addressed before people begin to trust the medical system enough to allow for mass signups for organ donation.
This inspired me. I have been looking for a way to use the skills and experience I gained transporting munitions in the military and my education in logistics and supply chain management. Starting a career in the organ & body donations field could be just what I've been looking for!
Yes! Please do this! I am a kidney recipient! I cant begin to tell you how bad the transport system is for organ donation!! You could be the first one with a govt. contract that does this. I would be happy to be a partner with you and teach you all-out organ procurement, UNOS, OPTN, and allocation. Jon Oliver is correct when he said that the only good thing Trump did was to make these new laws for organ procurement. We needed these changes over 40 years ago. Its just that insurance companies wanted to keep people sick,and make a lot of money, also dialysis companies started taking over, and milking Medicare. If you could do something positive like supply chain anf GPS tracking, it could be so simple. I saw my new kidney being cleaned by the surgeon, before I was put under. It was pink and looked good. But it was just in ice in a bucket with some clamps on the arteries and veins. So basically if you can transport ice, then that's all you need. Hearts need no more than 6 hours outside the body, and they are critical, tier 1 A, on the waitlist. Livers, you have to be very sick to be moved up on the wait list. But they come 5x faster than kidneys. Same as lungs and pancreas. A kidney pancreas priority is next highest priority, and last is kidney, because a person can live on dialysis as a bandaid measure. Also the CIT or Cold Ischemic Time outside a body is up to 48 hours on a kidney before it isn't viable any more. I hope I gave you some direction of how to help you with supply chain. I stilldont know why every organ doesn't have a gps system? There should be a "find my organ app" formal gifts of life!
Can I just say that I find it amazing that a comedy show (technically) has more information and more reason that most news sources? I feel like this is the true spiritual successor to The Daily Show when John Stewart was on board.
John Oliver hates it when people say this, but it's true. Despite his protestations that he's nothing more than a court jester, what he is doing is JOURNALISM. It's funny, but it's also hard news like few outlets deliver.
The entire organ donation process should be taken care of by an accountable federal agency. People would be more comfortable registering to be organ donors.
I don't know if Oregon still has it, but when you got drivers' license they had a box you could check that would make you a donor. So if you died with your ID your body would be used for transplants only. Every state should have such a law. I checked because I had a HS teacher that got a kidney donation and it literally saved his life. I think everyone would agree to donate because they literally know someone who lived or someone who died.
My brother got an organ transplant last year. He'd been on dialysis for 3 or 4 years. From what my mom told me, they literally called him a like 5am and told him if he could get there in 3 hours. They had a kidney for him. My family lived 2.5 hours away and my other brother sped the entire way getting there just before 7.
The only thing my aunt asked when her husband died suddenly 9 years ago and she was approached about organ donation was “Is his body going to look normal in the casket?” They said yes and they took pretty much everything they could. The parents of a 4 year old girl who needed an organ donation went to meet my aunt and she said she felt better about his death after that.
@@Tibbles11While true that's what they care most about, it's also kinda frustrating for me that people care about that more than the life of someone else. While it would be nice for the closure can't you say goodbye and then they harvest from the body and you don't need to look at him again and that's okay?
Major credit to Kate for being a donor and saving a life and to Alyssa for giving such a thoughtful gift and caring enough to go meet and thank the family.
That gift was so thoughtful, it was an act of genius. Now Kate's mother can listen to her daughter's heart whenever she wants. A very important part of her daughter is still alive.
I'm a recipient in wait for a heart. I think that is a very "gore" idea to give the sound of your/her heart ! Each and every one to his own, but I would hate to have a teddy bear with that sound.
@@Team33Team33I think the original purpose of those bears was to record the mother's heartbeat and place in the crib to soothe tetchy babies, so actual mom could get some much needed sleep every now and then.
I work in emergency medicine. That training video for the organ donor organizations can be fairly accurate. The family is frequently in shock or holding on to hope that the patient will make a recovery. The emotions are typically extremely high.
YES. I was a donor and after cardiac arrest am now on the list for a heart. Even though I WAS a donor; when I was told I needed a heart transplant to live, I said NO !!! I just couldn't believe that mine was no longer good enough. It's PARAMOUNT to decide BEFOREHAND in your 20's or 30's and to let your friends and family KNOW AND to carry an organ dono card in your wallet otherwise 50% of the potential organs that could save lives are refused simply because the next of kin have no idea and say NO when the deceased person was actually an organ donor. That is FACT. My life was saved BECAUSE I had ny organ donor card on me and I'm blood group O. But I somehow survived.as my heart started 63 minutes afterwards ! I've not recuperated 100% but almost. Had to teach myself how to speak again, write and walk and was 3 weeks in a coma, but thanks to people like you I'm still alive today.
Picture this: you enter hospital with minor medical problem and within 24 hours you are comatose/unresponsive and on the ventilator due to the deliberate medical maltreatment (drugs, etc.) And because someone has a $ sign in their eyes. Also picture a situation that you are a parent and you loose your only child to this criminal enterprise. And going even further you are someone who has medical knowledge and know exactly what was done. Your life becomes a horror!!!
As a living organ donor, I appreciate that LWT took their critical flashlight and put a spotlight on some of the less savory aspects of organ donation in this country.
When my husband died I donated his body to a company in Tennessee (I live in Kentucky but he died in TN) they were great! They sent me letters telling me how his gifts were used. It was immensely comforting
I've always thought the families of the deceased/donated organs should receive a considerable portion of the profits from these organ transplant surgeries, which hospitals make 6 figure profits off of. And yet the families don't see a dime of this money.
It’s a problem inherent to capitalism (similar to why husbands no longer pay money to the father of the bride), that any payment of money creates perverse incentives, much like how John Oliver has talked in his Mobile Homes episode about how landlords would raise rent, and tell tenants to donate their blood in order to pay their rent. In this case, it would probably be someone with a bunch of children framing the death of one child in order to get the organ money to pay to feed the other children.
Every day I get more appalled by what is possible and legal in the USA. When people believe so firmly that regulation is bad and that free wild capitalism rocks, you get all types of sordid legal businesses like selling people's body parts. As an European, I am horrified.
The same things happen in strictly-controlled socialist systems, just carried out by the state instead of corporations. Neither solve the core issue: unscrupulous people in positions of power.
Couldn't agree more, to be honest. As a fellow European, the US healthcare system has always terrified me but I never knew that its privatization affected the donation and transplant system so much.
@@RP-mi1hvthere are very few countries that can be considered remotely socialist and none of them are in Europe. The best they have are some Scandinavian countries that are social democracies (yes this is a type of economic [and governmental but that’s not what we’re talking about] system look it up)
Even a saint can commit crimes. What makes you think the worst president can't do good? I hate history, but I still read it. Study history. You will stop feeling surprised whenever John is defending a seemingly unfavorable person for a good deed one has done. It's journalism at its finest, being neutral and factual. (-_-)
When my brother died unexpectedly in Arizona, I was flooded with calls from the State organization wanting to persuade me to donate his organs. He and I had talked about organ donation and made our desires known. I was willing to donate whatever organs were salvageable but I received up to 9 different calls in the first hour after his death each with a different request for organs, skin, bones, etc. Again I told each one to make it known across the board to take whatever they could use. Obviously all these people were not communicating with each other despite their claims to work for the same organization. After the 9th call I said I rescind my permission and they can only have his corneas. I didn’t have much faith that my brother’s body was going to be treated with dignity and respect at that point.
The girl who recorded the heartbeat of her donated heart as a gift for the mother is a saint and a genius. I just can't find high enough praise for how thoughtful, loving and sensitive her action was.♥
I'm going to be honest: while I agree that the number one priority should be saving lives and number two should be actual medical education and research, the idea that my bones could be a roadside attraction, performing some sort of deranged circus act, is incredibly funny to me and I would gladly donate my body to that cause.
Having been to that museum, it's actually a pretty cool place (if underfunded) with a large collection on display. Worth a stop if you're ever in the area and into comparative anatomy. Dynamically posing skeletons to show the way the joints move is useful although that particular pose is hilarious. The older skeleton in the box is also an educational tool to show how our bones change and wear with age.
That's baller. Reminds me of that legend that recorded himself to be played at his burial so it sounded like he was trapped alive in the coffin going into the ground.
I will be eternally grateful for the lady who donated her body for my anatomy class.... I wrote this previous before finishing the video, now after I'm crying and snuffling. My plan is to donate all, or part of my body. (I'm not planning on using it again). If my body can help someone else, have at it (after I'm dead). I'm not religious, but God bless .
Nailed it!!!!!!!!!!!! Darkest system EVER! It is so HORRIBLE that when I read the data on how much rape and sexual abuse ,I had to stop. I will suggest it also ,Thank you 5523
Unfortunately sometimes Mr. Oliver doesn't get it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Tn7egDQ9lPg.htmlsi=6ZnaIms9P9ap2zkX&t=1033 Organs that came from genetically similar people require less immune suppressing drugs... So the insensitive white man was right, as the best match for Tonya Ingram would have been another person of mixed African & European Ancestry... This is already a big national problem for African Americans who need a bone marrow transplant if there isn't a relative who is a close match. And yes, it is painful to donate, as a late friend of mine donated bone marrow...
That's the main point and focus, on organ and body donation abuses. They're absolutely horrible. Laws that allows marketing bodies and bones, to other than for transplant patients and medical research or medical schools, and even for sideshows in a hotel, performing autopsies in a Marriott hotel for whoever that pays $500 to watch, and not even licenced doctors. Selling them for a sideshow tourist attraction museum, featuring entire human skeletons and spines, skulls, all bones, in whatever ways, including online human skull and other bones sales. Ex: Close to $4, 000 for a human spine As if making it all more important of economical value than government gives to living human beings, in what see in the prices. Poor people who do it with dead loved ones,, just to be able to have them pay for their cremations. Government contractors organizations that specialize in getting the bodies donated around the country, and how they're mistreated and casually handled, including leaving three human heads at an employees desk in vengeance because they filed a complaint about what seeing. Allowed desecrations of the dead for exclusively commercial purposes. This is a must watch episode of John Oliver.
A lot of the stories over the last couple of years have been covered already by Wendover Productions. He's even used at least one clip from one of his videos. I'm not throwing shade, I'm just saying that there are people that are talking about the issues, but they don't necessarily have the same audience as John Oliver. The more people talking about the problems out there, the more people can start to address them.
Thanks to watching this segment, I did some looking to see if, as a type 1 diabetic, I can donate organs (I can’t donate blood, unfortunately) and it turns out I can! Newly registered organ donor, here. A true thanks, John.
I heard a nurse at my hospital carrying some donated skin laugh to another nurse about how much that small bit of skin cost. My precious niece had just died. Her skin, bones, tendons,etc. were taken in donation. They removed all the skin off her back. I thought of how I used to rub her back, skin to skin,when she was 1 years old. It still horrifies me she was so carved up as we laid her precious body in the grave. Why would her skin cost so much? It was freely given by her. Who is making all that money?
I'm just I'm talking I don't have any real knowledge but maybe they were referring to the cost of the hospital stay and the surgeon fees not the actual skin donation
What you're describing is orgam donation which is regulated and can't be sell. Thank to your niece a live has been greatly improved or even saved. In contrast there's body donation for research & edu.. which can be sold. Why there's a price? Many medical companies that produce hospital equipment, medicine, body implant etc.. Require body part for their research and product development, they usually purchase or lease it (yes there's body part lease). It does help advance medicine and create life saving tools. Unfortunately there's assh.. Who made it for profit industry. For me those legitimate pharma company even if they are for profit should be given the body for research for free as the donor intended
I work at a hotel as an A.V. Technician and we recently had a company that builds medical devices come in and they had a showcase for some of their new medical devices. They had a variety of medical devices, but most of them were these sort of machines that used some kind of controlled electrical impulses that basically contracted the muscles, usually to achieve a cosmetic effect such as helping you get a flatter tummy or tighter butt (paraphrasing because tbh I wasn't exactly paying much attention to the actual machines because I was busy doing my job). Anyway, as part of the showcase they brought in a real human head and dissected the face on stage (they wanted to show how a particular medical device would interact with the facial muscles as apart of a presentation). we had to lay out the plastic and everything so they didn't contaminate anything. The story about the autopsy at the hotel reminded me of that because I remember all of us on the A.V. Team being kinda shocked by it. Sure it could be considered "educational" in a sense, but something about it still felt a little bit conflicting because it was basically like just a live commercial used to push whatever new medical device they were introducing onto the market. In fairness I think they were claiming that it might have some kind of therapeutic use for stroke victims and etc, but still I imagine it's probably not what most people are expecting their body to be used for when they donate their body to science.
This piece upset me on so many levels. I went from always being an organ donor and not even thinking about it, to considering stopping being one during this bit, to feeling ashamed for thinking of not being one and feeling vilified that I am and will stay one. There's so much...betrayal I feel from how these systems are orchestrated and run. It boils my blood. But to deny people in need over my anger feels needlessly selfish and it would hurt the people that don't deserve it. Those in need are not the problem the companies regulating themselves need to be regulated heavily from outside their own influence and forced to do right by those in need and by the rest of people in society who want these systems we are told to entrust with our lives to be worthy of our trust. I really hope in general our society can cut all the bs and be the country we claim to be...one by the people and for the people. I am sick sick sick of all these power hungry greedy people running systems that should be efficient, should be helpful into the ground. Instead of doing what they say, they are seriously lacking in proper leadership and operation all for higher payout on a quarterly basis to the top 10% roles of each respective company. For shame that there's so much oversight in conducting ethical business for the sake of money. Human lives are more important than money, more important than your expensive yachts. Humans are the ones that make money relevant...without us money means absolutely nothing. Why anyone would put money above life is completely beyond me. What absolute garbage human beings I hope they all end up in jail on tax fraud needing an organ they don't get themselves from the system they helped botch. They deserve no better.
I feel it’s also important to note that people with disabilities are ranked lower on organ donator lists, and certain disabilities like autism and downs can be outright banned! It’s disgusting that the lives of disabled people are *still* seen as “less important” than the lives of abled people!
I'm proud to say I'm an organ donor. This body doesn't mean anything after I've died so if it can mean life for another then that's all to the good. And if you've chosen the same then I salute you!
Same. Wtf am I going to do with it? I have enough unusual medical conditions that maybe my donation could help. I’m willing to take that chance. I’d prefer to be cremated (whatever is left) rather than be on a skull website tho :(
@@LindaC616depends how you do it. There’s the live donation, and the dead donation. I donated my moms body & they covered transport, cremation, even death certificates at no cost. The possibility that FTD research could help someone like her- absolutely worth it.
@@LindaC616Never looked in that, but how is it costly? And who they gonna charge? LOL. My dying wish is that my family better not pay a single cent for me to die. GD predatory racket.
I used to donate blood regularly. They loved me as I can drop 2 units in a relatively short amount of time. In and out, couple shots of juice and I'm straight. But then, then, I learned how much they charge for blood at the hospital if you have great insurance. Hmmm, so I looked at how profitable independent blood blanks / plasma centers are. Now? Forget it! I wouldn't give a unit of blood away for less than 2k usd, and that still leaves many thousands of dollars of profit for a few companies. I've never thought about my organs the same way but, yeah, no, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised.
I live nearby the central blood bank of the whole of the Netherlands. They centralize, coordinate and make sure all of the hospitals in the country have plenty of blood on hand. It’s government owned, works perfectly well and if you drop by to donate some blood all you get is a coupon for the canteen so you can get something to eat. And that’s one of the reasons our healthcare is very affordable
Absolutely! There comes a point where organizations are providing so much off our generosity and Goodwill that it's worth being cynical and denying it.
Always was too lazy to think about donating blood, but during the pandemic a room mate of mine lost his job and I was struggling to keep bills paid. Having had covid and hearing about the large payouts that were given to people for inoculated plasma donations I figured I'd go and donate. Got about 45 minutes into the "sign-up" process before getting pulled aside- I'd answered 'yes' to the "have you 'ever' had a sexual encounter with another man in your life, for 'any' reason" question. They asked when I'd last had a sexual encounter, I told them the truth- over a year, at least. That's about as far as it went. I was kicked out and couldn't donate, plasma or blood- my rap sheet says I'm disqualified. Because of privacy laws my rap sheet won't say 'why' I'm disqualified...but that means that even if the gay rule gets repealed I'm still going to be disqualified for life. When added to the other super strict rules I've heard about donating blood, and seeing how much they charge for what many companies try to coerce people to donate, I really just kinda hope it all goes down the shitter and we get a chance to start over. Fuuuuuck those guys.
Interesting to hear how things work elsewhere. I work in northern Sweden in the ICU and we will literally charter a private jet for an organ if we have a viable one to send. (We coordinate with the other Scandinavian countries+ Iceland for our donations)
I'm surprised they didn't mention the story that exploded (pun intended) on the internet a few years ago about the guy who found out his mother's body was sold to the military for “blast testing.” And the same company who facilitated that deal was found to have a body with the head of one person stitched onto another person in what was described by the facility as a "macabre joke."
That's pretty crazy that the military would even be paying money to a company for a civilians body. Like, give that money to the civilians family or the company should give the body to the military for free. No company should be allowed to profit off civilians body's like that.
Here in Finland I used to have organ donation card in my wallet. Now the law is different; your organs will be donated to those who need unless you explicitly have forbade it. I have not once heard a single person complaining about this. Some, like me, have been glad that there's no need to carry a card on my person anymore.
In the US it's tied to your ID card (typically your driver's license), which everyone carries anyway, but it's digitally recorded so as long as they know who you are they'll know you're an organ donor
I'm from a country (Belgium) and I live in a country (the Netherlands) where organ donation is the default procedure when you die in the "right" conditions (This rule is fairly new in the Netherlands, I grew up in Belgium with this concept). If you're against donating your organs, then you can specify this to the state. I don't know the details and how processes go in real life, but I feel this policy simplifies or solves some of the problems mentioned here. Recently, a student died in a tragic accident in my town and the news article relating the story mentioned the number of lives saved.
Croatian here and it's the same here, but I know that the doctors do always ask the family unless the patient has a donor card too. If you don't have a donor card, the family can say "No, we don't want to donate!" but, as far as I know, they can't override the existence of a donor card. My professors back in med school told us that most families do agree. Also, some countries are in a network, Eurotransplant, where they can "share" the organs. Like, if someone dies and their heart is not fitting for anyone on the list here, but there is a possible recipient in another country, it may go there. So for example someone from Belgium could get a heart from Croatia. (This is very simplified, OFC, I don't remember the specifics of how this works since I've learned it over 3 years ago)
It is a good policy, and it leads to more organs being donated than otherwise and means the difficult conversations with family afterwards, if they happen at all, are more centered around "do you know if your loved one had objections to organ donation." But in terms of the distribution and use of those organs, I can't see how that policy would help improve this situation
If I recall correctly the procedure 'donor until specified otherwise' was introduced early 2000s in the Netherlands. I remember my mother finding it quite difficult and my brother and I were just old enough to argue against it. I'm very much behind making it the norm. It saves lives and you can still opt out if you're strongly against it for whatever reason. My mother, for example, is against it because she finds it uncomfortable... You could take my organs, stitch me up, prepare me for the funeral and she'd be none the wiser since I'd be covered up anyway. I respect her feelings, but not at the cost of another person's life, even if that person is a stranger.
I've thought about donating my body after I pass, my intentions are to make it as financially easy for my friends and family as possible. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care what happens to my body after I die as long as my family doesn't have to pay for it.
You should definitely contact a willed body program and/or museum directly! The Kansas University willed body program is great (I taught at KU and respect is the #1 rule). They train doctors and nurses that save lives! For me, of course I don’t know how I’m going to die so I have contingency plans that depend on the condition of my corpse. #1 is if I can I want to be an organ donor and if so, any remaining parts can be donated to science. That’s up to the doctors that pronounce me dead. #2 Is if I cannot donate organs, but I can be donated to a willed body program to be a dissection cadaver, then I want to do that. I personally also want them to use my parts as preserved prosections to offer as much as I can to the students for as long as possible and they should keep my skeleton if possible. #3 If neither 1 nor 2 is possible (in a case where my body isn’t in suitable condition so as to be useful), I would like my skeleton (at least) to be donated to a public museum with specific notes that I have consented to being displayed to the public in exhibits or however the curator desires so long as my name, photograph and a note that I have happily consented to be displayed is included in any exhibition. and lastly #4 If none of the above are possible (a case where my body is really mangled and many bones broken) or if any remnants remains after full use, I do not wish to be preserved in embalming fluid or buried in a coffin. I wish for those pieces to be buried naturally in a way that I can decompose or alternatively I can be cremated and my ashes used to nourish plants. So to make those wishes concrete plans, I have filled out legal paperwork with a willed body program and contacted specific museum curators. I have written out specific instructions for my family with phone numbers to call and paperwork included and I have sent that to all of them so they know those are my wishes and no one can dispute that. Honestly took like one day. Highly recommend it. Gave me a lot of peace of mind.
We unexpectedly lost my stepmom a year and a half ago. Thankfully she was able to be a donor. She was able to donate both kidneys, her corneas, and tissue. It was the hardest experience I have ever endured but the people at Lifeline of Ohio were absolutely amazing. I am forever grateful to know she was able to save lives even though we no longer have her with us.
