About that 10 year old who recieved a second pair of lungs...

[liberalhistorian]

17. It is, indeed, no question about it.

There's also a darker side to it. Just ask the British family who were traveling in India a few months ago when their young daughter became ill from dehydration and who was injected at the hospital with a fluid that killed her in less than a minute, although the doctors wouldn't tell them what it was or why she'd died. When the British hospital that was to perform the autopsy received her body from the Indian hospital, it discovered that several major organs were missing. It was later determined that she'd been killed for her organs, since there were very few organ donors in India. Her life was deemed less important than the lives of those waiting for organs, even though she was healthy and deserved to live her own life with her family.

Then there was the hospital in this country that was just fined for almost removing organs from a woman who was still alive. She was being prepped for organ removal after determination that she was no longer "viable", when she opened her eyes. She is now still alive and quite traumatized, as was her family. The doctors involved admit that they may have been a bit too eager to get organs for transplant to follow the full procedure necessary to determine true death for the purpose of organ availability.

Organ donation is a good thing, and there should be as much education as possible to ensure that as many people as possible check the donor box on their license and make sure that their families know their wishes also. But it MUST MUST MUST remain completely and totally voluntary, no coercion or failure to follow procedure, period. The lives of potential donors deserve as much respect and dignity as those who need organs.