Health & Family It makes me furious to think anyone would object to organ donations

This is a common fear. But, resuscitation and organ donation are not linked.

To be an organ donor, the processes require a 'stable' situation.

The patient is either demonstrably brain dead, and proven so - before consideration of donation, or is on maximum (life) support and will not survive without it - but is nevertheless stable.

Treating teams are not usually the transplant teams, and there is a series of checks and processes before the final decision is made. Hypothetically, if this were to occur - and I know the transplant teams very well, I would trust each of them with the care of my family - in QLD, they are absolutely top notch doctors, and the same surgeons who I would choose to use if I needed a non-transplant surgery in their field.
In any case, the transplant team is often notified very late in the piece that a possible donor is ready.

Treatment is not influenced by a patients decision to be a donor. It also goes the other way, a patient will not have treatment just to save organs, when they wouldn't otherwise have treatment - here is a made up example, which may mimic real life examples that occur not infrequently:

A young person has a clearly non-surviveable brain injury after a car accident.
They also have a bleeding inside their abdomen, which if not stopped will lead to blood loss and heart/lung cessation.
The patient would not have an operation, as their life is unable to be saved from the brain injury.
An operation could save their organs, but this is not an indication (nor even a consideration) for treatment.

 

My thinking as well

 

Absolutely not. It's my body and I'll do what I want with it. Having said that I'm a registered organ donor and my family no my wishes.

 

Most people feel that way, but I was surprised to learn that according to the common law, corpses are not considered property, and thus there are no legal rights to possession, transfer, or disposal (etc) of a corpse, except where statutory provisions have been enacted to the contrary. Once buried, they are considered part of the land (and the property of the owner of the land), but between death and burial, (in most jurisdictions) they're in legal limbo. Likewise the cremated remains are in legal limbo, until scattered or interred, when they become part of the land and owned by the owner of the land.

 

I recall it is a criminal offence to cremate a person when they have given instructions not to be cremated.

There a many cases of family feuds about the dead body and disposal or where to bury or how lavish a funeral etc.

 

I confess that bizarre and obscure case law is my favourite part of studying law. I think of case law as like a legal equivalent of the Darwin Awards.

If you want to know whether it's trespassing to throw a drunken friend on railway tracks, case law can tell you the answer!

If you illegally shoot your neighbour's cat, and the bullet lodges in the cat's corpse and thus doesn't make contact with their property, was your bullet technically trespassing?

The answers to these and many other questions, all found in case law. (Many involving intoxication.)

 

That's nuts isn't it? Why is the reason for this? Mad cow or something?

See ya's.

 

Yes, any animal to human transmitted diseases can have the longest incubation periods of any disease known to man. They can be fast (SARS), or in the case of mad cow, you may know until literally 20-30 years from when you catch it. Scary stuff.

 

Discharge a firearm in suburban Australia, and questions over trespassing will be the least of your worries.

 

I've carried a donor card around in my wallet for over a decade, my wife knows about it and it's mentioned in my will. Fortunately they haven't asked me to make good on it yet.

I also donate blood quarterly and plasma monthly. Last time I was in they asked if I'd consider donating platelets as well but apparently I can't for a while because I've been overseas recently.

The problem with organ donation is that it's opt-in rather than opt-out. A lot of people would likely be happy to do it if they gave it serious thought. Personally I'm happy to give something away if I don't have any further use for it.

A lady at the blood bank recently told me that if you donate blood, you'll never need it back. That's a pretty compelling argument if you ask me; so far, so good.

 

Exactly my point.