Footnote: ER docs are even *more* nuts about not losing patients. And besides, if you're in a critical trauma, your clothes have been sheared off of you. Your wallet's still in your pants or in your purse.

And yeah, it might seem a bit creepy, but there's tons of people who are on organ donation lists, and tons of people who die without even considering giving their organs. My father had two cornea transplants for a degenerative eye disease, and while corneal rejection is fairly low, it took someone's generosity to keep him from going blind. Maybe I'm a little gung-ho too, but it can

Soapbox: If you're never using your heart, it's in bad shape! It wants to be worked! Your body will thank you (after hating you for a good week or two).

And if you're an organ donor, you should consider becoming a bone marrow donor, too.

I think it's great being an organ donor. A week or two ago I kept hearing conversations about kidneys near my cube. Turns out my cube neighbor is giving up one of his kidneys for his daughter who needs one pretty badly. That's some heartwarming stuff there. I'd give up just about anything for my daughter.

Now, if I can just figure out how to be a hair donor, I'd be rolling in dough (except for that fact that by being a donor, I'd be giving it away). Scratch that. Hair farmer. I want my head of enthusiastic hair to pay the bills.

Check out the economics behind organ donation. The only people who don't make money off of it are the donors and their families. I remember reading (dammit! can't remember where!) an interesting article a while back that pointed out that donors often give away organs which are used in cosmetic and other for-profit types of procedures...

i remember an old monty python skit where they came for the organs before the donor was dead.

"but i'm still using them..."

hahahahahahaha.... ahhh, monty.

I'm kidding! I'm strongly in favor of organ donation. I just don't want anybody to be so damn happy about process that *begins* with my death.

What would be even more scary (in my opinion) is if the NY Dept of Health keeps sending you letters, checking up on the state of their (er, I mean your) organs, offering up tips for keeping them in tip top shape.

That would freak me out!

Anil, is the crack about never using your heart supposed to be a testament to geeks not ever exercising or to geeks not having any emotions? ;)

I too worried about donated organs being profitable for everyone except the donor. That was till my cousin needed a kidney transplant to save her life. As long as someone needs a life saving transplant, timeliness should be our only concern. Ain't like we'll have any say about the matter.

Yup. I'm all about transplants but wish there was a second box you could check saying, "none of my body parts is going to the removal of anybody's wrinkles or other ‘fatal’ cosmetic diseases that exist only in your lack of self-esteem." That might be too long for the back of a license, though.

Maybe we need a system like Creative Commons licenses for organ donation. Then the back of your license could just say "at-nc-sa" (attribution, non-cosmetic, share-alike).

In the year 1880 some little girl needed a kidney and you didn't care. Do you know why you didn't care..? Because you didn't exist. After you die some other little girl will need a kidney and you still won't care.... because you won't exist. Back to Dennys for some more Oxy-Contin.

I, too, recently renewed my driver's license, and I also checked the organ donation box. However, in MN they don't send you a nifty letter thanking you for your future contribution to medicine. They did demand my SSN, though.

The reason why they are so happy to have new donors is that there are actually very few of them. It is not rare at all for people to die because there aren't any organs available for a transplantation.

Checking the organ donation box will (thankfully) certainly not shorten your life, but on average, since organ donors die as frequently as the rest of the population, this decision will save lives without any doubts because of the big dissymmetry between people who need donors and actual donors.

But I agree that they should perhaps insist on the growing number of saved lives instead, that certainly would be less creepy !

Don't forget to donate your brain!

Well yes, checking the box feels good, overall the decision makes sense, and you don't think about it much. The 2-page letter brings it home, however and suddenly you are faced with your mortality and feelings of keep your creepy hands off of my innards...

Having received a kidney four years ago when I had all but given up on life, I'm very appreciative of your postings about donations. Here's an interesting bumper sticker I saw last week, "Why Should Anyone Have Two Kidneys When Some Have None?"

I, too, recently renewed my donor status along with my license. The woman at the counter thanked me. She said that often people who have donated in the past suddenly decide not to! We both thought that was nuts.

Don't forget cord blood, which is the tiny amount of blood (about three ounces) left over in a baby's umbilical cord after it is born. The cord is usually thrown away, but the blood in it contains a large number of stem cells that tend to be a better source for transplants than adult bone marrow. Those three ounces of blood can be harvested and frozen for up to ten years, either for personal/familial use (like an emergency back-up plan if anyone in your family may need a bone marrow transplant some day), or can be donated, like regular blood.

Not that you're going to be giving birth anytime soon...but good to keep in mind if you know someone who is.

In a Larry Niven universe, the Organ Banks would be the preferred method of executing criminals, and we'd already be having problems with organlegging (although apparently we are already dealing with the latter).

Don't forget to donate your brain!

But don't get it confused with Abby Normal's!