Organ Donation-Donate Life
... horrible car accident? Your body would probably not remain intact. There are so many things that might happen to your body that it wouldn’t make a difference if you donated your organs to save others or your body got mangled in a freak accident. The other religion that doesn’t approve of organ donation is the Shinto. They say once a body is dead, it is impure and dangerous. They believe injuring a dead body is a serious crime. However, once a body is no longer alive, it has no feeling, therefore the body would not be hurt. Why not use organs from the dead body to keep others alive? These organ transplantations have been proven to be extremely successful. Medicine nowadays is so advanced that organ donation is really not dangerous. The current survival rates are the highest they’ve ever been. Most religions understand this and regard organ donation as an act of charity. They think very highly of it. Others leave the decision up to you (University of Michigan). Knowing the facts about organ donation is very important in making the right decision. You might not know exactly what organ donation is. According to the Northwest Life Center, “organ donation is the process of surgically removing organs from a deceased person in order for the organs to be used for transplantation. A living donor has given part of an organ or one kidney from his or her own living body for transplantation.” People might think there is an age restriction on organ donation. That is a myth because anyone who wants to can become a donor. Individuals under eighteen years of age, however, must have parental consent. The deciding factor on whether a person can donate their organs is determined by medical stability at the time of death. People might think that there will be costs to their family if they decide to be an organ donor. However, there are absolutely no costs to the donor’s family for organ donation. The costs are paid by the recipient, usually through insurance. One might think they won’t be able to have the open casket funeral service that they wanted to have because their body will be disconfigured. Donation will not disconfigure your body because your organs are surgically removed. This means you can have an open-casket funeral service if you wish (Health Resources and Services Administration and Department of Health and Human Services). Another misconception that people might have is that there can’t be interracial organ donation. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there was a case in a book entitled, “Black and White and Red all Over,” of a kidney being transplanted from a Caucasian woman to an African American man. The African American man had gotten a kidney from his same race wife previously, but the kidney was destroyed by a virus. The man’s health was fading quickly. A friend of his, who happened to be a Caucasian woman, offered him one of her kidneys, and they ended up being the perfect match. The organ transplantation ended up being a great success. This goes to show that people of the opposite race and opposite sex can still be a match for an organ transplant. Usually family members are the best match, but you never know, without testing, who else can be your match. Your match might be someone that you least expect (Hamilton and Brown 9-20) Education on organ donation is a key step in increasing the number of organ donors. The Governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, came up with a plan to encourage high school students to become organ donors. He created a law to mandate that organ donation information must be given as a part of driver education classes. As a result, many materials are currently available to driving schools, but there is no federal law about this yet. (Thompson) This is a wonderful idea. When teenagers start driving, it is a good time to make them more aware of organ donation. So many accidents happen on the road that it is important to be prepared for any accident that might occur. Becoming an organ donor is simple. There are three easy steps. First, you need to fill out an organ donor card and carry it with you in your wallet. You can find these on various websites online. You have to sign it and have two witnesses sign as well. The second step is to put it on your driver’s license. You can do this by physically going to the Department of Motor Vehicles or by going to their website. All you have to do is fill out a simple form and submit it directly to them or mail it in. Finally, and most importantly, you need to share this information with your family and friends (Coalition on Donation). Currently, this decision is left up to them when you pass away. If you make your preference known, your family will most likely go with it. Wh...