That little organ donor symbol has been on my license for years, but not after today. See, I'm all for the sick and dying benefiting from my remains after I don't need them anymore, but it turns out I'm worth more dead than alive. My cadaver could fetch over $100,000. And people are profiting from that all up and down the chain. And since I have no health insurance, I wouldn't even be eligible to get on an organ transplant list if I needed one. And it's not like I'm getting paid to be on that list or that my family would get any money from my remains after I die. Everyone in the USA should come off the donor registries and announce that we are not going back on until people don't profit from our good will and until health insurance, and therefore wealth, isn't a consideration on who does and who doesn't get an organ or get to the top of the list. But if they want to keep anything in the healthcare system for profit, then how about they pay the source? In exchange for repayment of my student loans, for example, I will happily remain on the registry for life. We should all force the adoption of these types of loan or debt forgiveness programs in exchange for being listed in the donation registry. These grubby corporate cockroaches have made enough off me during my lifetime, they won't have a nickel more after I'm dead.
That's an interesting concept!!!! I think I like it. I need to think about it a while. Hopefully, others will respond and get some diverse perspectives. Thanks for a novel idea!
Thank you for considering it. There is a problem for people whose deeply held religious beliefs prohibit them from donating organs after death but perhaps something could be done to exempt them from the requirement while granting them the same loan or debt forgiveness similar to those who refuse to serve in the military due to religious beliefs are given other options. Not sure what, however, since being dead consumes no time or energy therefore it wouldn't be fair to ask such people to exchange time and energy to qualify.
Of course, not everyone would be in a situation where student loans or debt forgiveness would be relevant. But, there are zillions of other ways to help compensate for the organ pledge.
I think most people greatly dislike the idea of someone profiting from their dead body and generous uncompensated gift. But paying people before hand is problematic because most people who fill out organ donation cards are never in a position to actually donate organs. Very few deaths are of the sort where organ donation is viable.
Something I didn't know, and I can't say which government introduced it, but there is a provision through medicaid that the government guarantees access to anti rejection drugs no matter what your circumstances are. I think thats pretty cool
Why are you advocating even more government intervention as a solution to a problem that only exists because of government intervention in the first place? Just legalize the buying and selling of organs in a free market. Problem solved.
First off......Where are you getting this figure that your cadaver is worth 100k? Who is profiting "all up and down the chain" from your cadaver? Are these profits relative to your organs, or are they relative to the procedure required to harvest them? Secondly, Im not an expert on all funding sources for transplants, but I know that in the case of Kidneys, Medicare pays for this entire procedure and follow up care, regardless if the patient has other insurance or not, and I believe this is the case in most life saving transplants. The decision whether or not to donate one's organs is born out of a desire to help others. I fail to see why your disdain for what you see as a profit motive, should impact whether you want to help others or not. The recipient of one's organs surely has nothing to do with this (perceived) profit motive. To me, you come across as uncaring and vengeful, and so enthralled in your hatred for capitalism that you are blinded to the morals of basic human decency. I am going to go out on a limb and predict that you are an OWS supporter?
I love an educated citizen! You've now made it harder for the fat cats to pad their stuffed balance sheets. If only everybody would follow your lead! - - - Updated - - - Costs or profit?
I think the problems with the costs and shortages associated with organ donation could be solved by taking organs harvested from executed felons. There are about some 250,000 hardcore repeat violent felons that could be put to death if our liberal criminal justice system were to be restored to its former greatness. Hanging would allow the least stress on vital organs. Family and gang members of the condemed can pay $100,000 settlement fee if they object to the use of their "loved ones" being cut apart. Organs would be provided free to the public. Think of this as a compassionate entitlement program.
That's a good point. However, promising to pay them after their death may result in suicide attempts (by driving) which in turn can hurt others as well.
Ahh yes. Take from those that "don't deserve anything more". Well, let's just encourage imprisonment and the profit associated with it point blank. Take from those that are able to be taken from, just for the sake of taking. Where have I heard that one before? - - - Updated - - - I'm sure suicide attempts are at the top of the fat cat priority list of what's good for profit and what isn't. No sheet?
The whole "Get paid for organ donation" idea is definitely not part of the fat cats' agenda. We're discussing this hypothetically, if we were to talk about feasibility then it would have been a whole other discussion (probably a dead-end discussion).
It's just simple justice. Repeat violent felons make it their career to hurt others. By raping, assaulting, kidnapping and murdering they often take everything from their victims. Why just feed their useful organs to the worms? Bad people give up their rights to life and their then lifeless body when they abuse others with such cruelty. This organ harvesting program allows these violent people maybe the only time in their life when they can make a positive impact on society.
Actually you would be able to receive an organ if you didn't have insurance. I have a relative who was on the waiting list for liver and pancreas. Its a mixture of charity and government.
For my relative---didn't have insurance---everytime an organ was available, his vitals were not at a point where he could have the operation. When his vitals went up and he was healthy enough to have the operation---no organs were available. He died---not because he didn't have insurance but because of a shortage of organs.
Value of a cadaver and profit: http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-oe-howley6mar06,0,6608810.story ON THURSDAY, the biotech firm LifeCell Corp. announced its financial results for 2006. LifeCell's revenues $140.6 million for the year, a 51% increase over 2005 are testament to its remarkable technologies, including a revolutionary skin graft for burn victims. But there may be another reason for LifeCell's impressive numbers: The company uses human remains to manufacture its most profitable product, but it doesn't have to compensate the families of the dead. Body snatchers have been trading cadavers for cash for as long as anatomists have demanded them, but it's only recently that human remains could make one rich. Every day, biotechnology is driving up the value of your component parts. Low estimates put the present value of a single cadaver at $100,000. But in the current system, only someone else could get that money. The legal resale value of your body, to you, is precisely $0. No insurance usually means no organ transplant: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/18/uninsured-give-but-rarely-receive-organs-for-transplant/ Call it the ultimate inequity in health care. A team of Harvard researchers finds that people without health insurance are about 20 times more likely to donate a liver or kidney than to receive one.
Well, that's true. They just take what they want for free and nobody is the wiser. Very high profit operation. Paying for organs they can take for free probably isn't very appealing to the fat cats.
Okay...so Bernie Madoff's organs should be taken away from him. Corrupt Republicans who go to jail should have their organs confiscated as well. Hmmmm...I'm starting to like this idea. - - - Updated - - - .....and your profiteering hospitals greatly appreciate it too. Fills in those holes in the balance sheets very nicely.
