From: KATHY_OAK

Date: 9/18/22

In my book and forum "Organ Donation: Why My Heart's Not In It Anymore", in the folder titled "Addendum To My Book," post 7.14, I argue that "some of the people who are among the staunchest advocates for organ donation wanted nothing to do with it until they or someone they love needed a transplant," and as an example, I cited the case of a middle-aged Ohio man and his wife, neither of whom signed up to be an organ donor until after he learned he had a liver disease and would eventually need a liver transplant.   He said he felt badly to know that it was something he overlooked, and he also said he realized that people might ask where was he then, and then he answered his own question, saying that his head was in the sand.   I, on the other hand, suggested that it might actually be the most normal thing in the world for people to have their head in the sand about something like organ donation:  That is, maybe when we find ourselves expecting more of others than we expect of ourselves, that should be our first clue that we're expecting too much.  

Along the same line, I heard the father of a child who received a transplant say that he wasn't sure he could bring himself to donate his child's organs if the shoe was on the other foot.

Too few people seem to understand that organ donation can be a double-edged sword.

Just something to think about. 


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