Recently Iceland passed a law, that goes into effect as of this year, that makes every adult over 18 to become an organ donor by default with ability to opt out. Nevertheless, the Icelanders will still have the final say on what happens to their bodies after death. It is still illegal for the governments to remove organs from the body of a deceased person if "they have expressed their opposition to such or if doing so may be deemed for any other reason to be contrary to their will." The law, first introduced in 2012, allows family members to opt-out on behalf of the deceased.
#1
My grandpa (I never met him) died in the 60's, he wanted his body given to the medical school. My mom is doing the same, has convinced my step dad to and I plan on doing so as well. I don't need a little piece of land that nobody ever gets to use again. And my mom always used to tell me her dad viewed it like this.. "when I'm dead, I won't need my body any more, If some drunk med student breaks into the lab, cuts my arm off and hangs it up in the frat house as a prank, they're still getting more use out of it than I am." Sounds like he was a pragmatist.
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60points
#2
I've had two and a half years with my beautiful wife thanks to two lung donors.
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56points
#3
When my fiancee passed away suddenly a couple years ago, I found it oddly comforting to know his bone marrow and retinas moved along to someone else.
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48points
#4
I am an Egyptian. As long as you replace my organs with my cats and stitch me up and follow appropriate embalming techniques, and paint my sarcophagus the appropriate color -- I have no complaints.
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45points
#5
So, I'm a doctor, but went through medical school recently and was quite involved in the anatomy department whilst there.
Each person (cadaver/ donor) was used to teach ~ 30-40 students (i.e. 10 people in first year would study the limbs, 10 people in upper years would study the chest, 10 people would study the abdomen .etc).
The cadavers were treated with a lot of respect, and nothing was thrown away (all bits were saved and kept with the body). At the end of the academic year when we had finished learning from them they were cremated, and some of us went to a memorial service. Some of the donors' families were there, and were offered the urn to keep or scatter, the rest were scattered in the nice woodland cemetary where the service took place.
Both donating organs or donating body to science are wonderful things to do as even after you have died you're still helping people (and hopefully by proxy the doctors that you help train will go on to help even more people). It's the gift that keeps on giving.
The only thing that would make me hesitate is that from death to cremation could be ~ 1 year, which might not be cool with your family if they have strong feelings about these things.
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42points
#6
My sister did not have a will when she died suddenly in her 30s. Our entire family was able to confidently say "Yes, she wanted her organs donated." We found out later her liver saved one man who wrote my family a letter a year after the transplant. We then asked and were told her skin, corneas, other organs, were used to help more than 2 dozen people total. It was actually comforting to know a piece of her was still out there and helping others.
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41points
#7
Good, but why is it only for people over the age of 18? We're talking dead organ donation, presumably, they're not live-harvesting livers or whatnot. So, there is no reason to exclude anyone. If a legal guardian wants to opt a kid out, they could. Children generally need organ donations from other children, because of the size of the organs. Not including kids means more dead kids. I'm not personally a fan of dead kids.
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37points
#8
My biggest regret in life (well, death) will be that I can't be around to see med students poking around my body and brain to see why I am so f**ked up, lol. I'm a very curious person.
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33points
#9
I've always said that this should be the way.
I got an extra 13 years with my dad thanks to someone else's heart.
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32points
#10
I'm from Austria and it's been like this over here for as long as I can remember. Honestly, there is no issue. Very few people actively don't want to be donors. They care enough to just opt out. Most people don't care whether or not their organs are donated/don't think about it and would be too lazy to opt in if it weren't automatic. I literally see no reason against it and anyone I've ever talked to about our system has expressed the same opinion. It's beyond me why it's not a thing in more countries.
Edit: TIL it's more widespread than I thought. I hope it's going to become even more common!
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30points
#11
When asked if he would mind if his body was thrown over the city walls to be devoured by wild animals, he said “Not at all, as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!” When it was asked of him when he could do with a stick if he lacked awareness, he said “If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I’m dead?”
Diogenes the Cynic - 404 BC
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28points
#12
I have a lot of friends in medical school (I was supposed to go too when they did but took time off instead and have kept up with them) and they’ve said that a lot of people cry before, during, and after the dissection and feel a lot of respect and gratitude for the person who donated their body. They usually have a hard time cutting into someone they know had a life and is being grieved by people somewhere so they treat the cadavers with a lot of respect through the whole process and afterwards.
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26points
#13
This is fantastic. This was someone's personal vehicle, their own quiet place they took everywhere with them. The medium with how they experience everything in this world. Now they are done with it they want it to continue to do good for others. My grandmother did this. I miss her but it does make me proud to be her grandchild and I will definitely be doing the same when I've had my fun here.
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26points
#14
When I was learning to drive my parents warned me over and over that they're going to ask if I want to be an organ donor when I get my license and I need to be sure to say no or else I'll just be left to die if I ever get injured and go to a hospital because it will make them lots of money to harvest me.
That's nonsense of course, they'd let me die because I don't have insurance.
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21points
#15
We've had this in Wales since 2015. I can't remember anyone disagreeing with it.
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19points
#16
When I die, I'm seriously thinking of going the "donate my body to science" route. Would be comforting to think I'm being of some use. And if my family wants a part to cremate or bury, they can have foot or something.
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19points
#17
I dont have a problem with my body being recycled when I die. It wont be any use to me and since I've already been told I cant be set on fire and pushed out to sea it may as well serve some purpose
19points
#18
Actually, "pathological specimens" (sorry for the term) are also incredibly useful. It's one thing to read about how different conditions affect the body, but it's a totally different experience to see it with your own eyes.
As far as I recall, you can specify what you want done with your body, to a certain degree. If you want it to go to an anatomy lab in a med school, then that's where it will go - we take the wishes of our donors incredibly seriously.
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17points
#19
It's super easy. You do it online. I just tried it, and after signing into the site with two-factor ID, it was literally 4 clicks. (I didn't actually register as a non-donor, just checked how it's done).
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16points