trillian

Atheist and I'm donating. Don't care what happens really when I'm dead. If I give my heart to a theist, I'd like to think they could be told they had the heart of an atheist!

I do put some trust in the people around me to watch for some unethical doctor who might snip my last thread of life to get my organs a bit early. But as far as I know regular and transplant doctors are separated so there should be no incentive and the risk low.

I think they should give you a tax credit or something for each year you decide you are a donor. It would make it much more popular among the fence sitters!!

Trillian

Darwin's Finch

Atheist and eventual organ donor (if they can find anything I haven't hopelessly abused).

Viti

There really is no incentive. The doctor working on you (dying from an accident or whatever) has nothing to do with the transplants, and your stats are simply sent to UNOS for matching on their master list.

nj_heathens

Mr. Heathen and I are both organ donors. We know our intentions are good, but we're hoping to hang on to all necessary organs as long as they're keeping us alive. Once we're dead, we hope we've kept our organs healthy enough to benefit others.

As for what happens after that, speaking for myself, I don't have any strong feelings one way or another. I choose cremation over burial, but I wouldn't rule out body donation to a scientific entity or educational institution. The only negative visual I ever get from that thought is the possibility of some sick fuck using my remains in some perverse sex ritual. However, if I've made my wishes known to Mr. Heathen or our (future) children or closest friends, I'll leave the final decision to them, I think. I want a bodiless, secular memorial event over a funeral with a "viewing."

One possibility that I'm seriously considering can be found here:

Eternal Reefs As a lifelong environmental activist, this is an option that appeals to both my humanist and environmentalist philosophies. I sent away for their literature and video, and I like what I see.

Mr. Heathen and I haven't seriously discussed this yet, but I suppose that day will come soon enough.

Mrs. Heathen

Jackalope

Hell with that. My body is rejecting its own material. Most transplant recipients have fewer problems than I do. Most transplant recipients have better HLA matching with their donor organs than I have with my own tissues. So should I "have some dignity, have some pride" and just give up and die as well? Fuck that.

And no, I'm not a donor, because no one else deserves to end up this way...

Daisy

Actually, my husband is more likely to "donate" his organs or, rather, have his donated, than I am because I'm all for it while he still thinks it's creepy and it's the survivor who decides. It is marked on my driver's license, but he is more likely to have final say.

beth

Sorry you're going through so much, hon.

Godless Dave

My grandmother did that. She wanted her remains buried in the plot she already had next to my grandfather. Extra side benefit: she died in December, when it is too cold for burial, but the medical school (University of Rochester) is giving us her remains this spring. So we don't have to worry about frozen ground, and we were able to plan the funeral/memorial well in advance to ensure maximum attendance.

I heard anecdotally that it's not a given that you can donate your body to science; sometimes med schools have a glut of cadavers and they can't take everyone's who wanted to donate.

I did the thing on my driver's license. I can't imagine anybody in my family objecting but I suppose I should mention it to them. I gave blood earlier this month for the first time in years. I will have time to do it one more time before June, after which I'm getting myself a tatto for my birthday so I won't be able to donate again for 12 months.

asvani

In Singapore, where I reside, it's mandatory by law for you to donate your kidneys and corneas after death. Of course, they can't harvest your organs if your family objects or you opt out.

But what I really want is to be turned into a meat pie or some liquified nutrient feed a la The Matrix.

Shake

Well, after pausing for a bit before posting to actually read some of the other responses, I see that pz and GD have answered some of my questions. I've most recently decided that I'd like to be cremated, but wasn't sure how it worked around organ donation. Obviously, now that I think about it a bit more, they could take the organs first and then do the cremation. I see cremation as a quicker way to return to the earth (ashes to ashes and what-not).