Re: To donate or not to donate..that is the question

Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Mon, 11 May 1998 00:19:51 -0700


Berrie Staring:

>Here in the Netherlands they are starting with
>a national database of all the people in Holland, in
>which they record what you would like to be done
>with your organs should you die. We all have to fill
>in a form and express our wish. Up on our death the
>doctors will immediately contact this database and ask
>for the wish.
>
What does "die" mean? Brain death, or cardiorespiratory death?
What are the standards in the Netherlands regarding
establishing death? Is it possible for a person to be
on life support (ie, vegetable) to be dead?

I am not a doctor, but am an Alcor Cryptransport Certified
Technician. The impression I have is that waiting for
brain death is not a good idea! Mentioning BD is a very
poor idea! Cardiac death is the best way to have a still
preservable brain (much simplification here).

>Since "we" sign up for Cryonics it is not wise to express
>the wish, that we would like to donate our organs.
>Also on this form there is no room to put in writing what
>wish you may have (a missed opportunity IMHO).
>
Alcor requires a Whole Body Anatomical Donation. I don't
know how that would relate to your situation. I expect that
it would be hard to get life support for a WBAD.

>However, there is the option to give an other person the
>right to choose for you. So, I could appoint a member of
>Transcedo to make sure that they don't use my organs.
>
Perhaps the other person is the cryonics provider...

>The beauty of this is, that he/she will be contacted ASAP.
>

I suspect ONLY if the remains have viable organs. Otherwise
ASAP may take hours or days.

>Second: they will keep me "alive" until the decision is made,
>this could be very valuable I think.......
>
Only a small percentage of terminal cases leave viable organs
for harvesting. It is far better to have the cryo team on site
when you die, and this TAKES PREPARATION. In my case, I plan
to relocate to Scottsdale when my condition becomes terminal.

>Please share your opinion. Is it a good thing to use this
>option?

I don't think it's very useful.

>or do we risk a lot of damage by the "waiting"
>period.

Once you have ischemia, you have to do a lot of things quickly
to keep the brain intact. I doubt this would be done as no one
has a use for transplanting brains. Also, the cryo based procedures
do not support viability of brains or other organs.

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| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
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