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People who desire to be organ donors often have their wishes thwarted at the final moment by family members who are caught up in the agony of grief of losing a loved one. The thought of having their child or spouse; brother or sister; mother or father "disfigured" by the removal of organs for donation may be abhorrent to them in the early stages of sorrow. The whole idea of organ donation may be against their beliefs. Making the decision to allow such a thing even though they know their loved one may have wanted it would be unthinkable.

Moving from an opt-in to an opt-out organ donor system would remove the awful burden of families having to make the decision when their loved ones have met an untimely fate. The first few moments after a loved one has died is a time of shock and denial. Your thoughts processes aren't working rationally. You can't believe your loved one is dead but you have to believe it because there is the lifeless body. But maybe there is hope. Someone could do something couldn't they?

This is not the optimum time to approach a grieving person about donating their loved ones' organs. With the opt-out program, the decision that the person made when they applied for their driver's license or identification card would be final. The doctors could proceed without involving the family in the process and most likely, in many cases, the family would be none the wiser. The incisions would be covered up by clothing in an open casket funeral.

Of course parents would still have to make those choices for minors. Perhaps they should make the decision when the children are healthy and they are not overwrought. It might be awful to think about such a disastrous calamity at such a joyous point in your life but perhaps parents should be approached when their children are born. Something subtle like a pamphlet they can fill out if they wish and then again when their child begins school.

The opt-out system would be easy to establish since everyone has to renew their licenses and identifications periodically based on the year of their birth date. There wouldn't be any need for a huge bureaucratic snarl if the new system took effect gradually when each person's renewal date came up. Then they could be registered in a nationwide computer system complete with blood type and whatever other pertinent medical data was required if they opted-in.

The most important aspect of the opt-in program is that it will save lives. Doctors and Nurses will know right away when they plug your name or identification number into a computer in the emergency room that a fatality is an organ donor. They will have all of the medical data they need to find compatible matches for his or her organs. They will be able to notify recipients right away that they have a match and begin the process of harvesting the organs and getting them to the recipients who need them the most without the delays that plague the process with the current system.

Learn more about this author, Barbara Gavin-Lewellyn.
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