Comment by Bystander22 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Bystander22 | Hacker News Reader

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Your link and the posted one about body farms reminds me of the ethical questions raised by an article published in 2007 that got significant coverage: a professor of Medical Ethics, Anesthesia, and Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School discussed openly the differences between brain death and heart death, and what that means for organ transplants (for example: some people administer anesthesia to the donating body just in case). It got traction outside the normal readership because... a lot of people didn't know.

[Are links to sci-hub ok here? 'Brain Death - Too Flawed to Endure, Too Ingrained to Abandon' by Robert D. Truog, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Summer 2007, https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007....]

In my area, you can indicate that you want to be an organ donor on your drivers license. It's a check box. But can you fully understand your decision at the DMV office, and can you fully contain your wishes within a check box?

Similarly with the posted links: informed consent is important, even if that means fewer volunteers.

I seriously considered taking myself off the donor list when I learned that it might subject me to vivisection. But ultimately I decided I wouldn't be willing to turn down being the recipient of an organ donation, so it's a risk I now accept. Anesthetizing donors should be made standard practice though.

I also considered removing myself from the donor list after reading about live vivisection a while back. But, I looked up how to remove oneself as a donor and couldn’t find any information.

Also, I renewed my license recently and did not mark that I wanted to be a donor, and it stated that I was one on my new license nonetheless.

I am still undecided on the subject because I would like to donate organs to people in need when the time comes, so it doesn’t bother me too much.

It depends on the state of course, but in Washington you can visit a Drivers Licensing Office to update your donation status and get a new card (which is free, if you're only changing your donation status.)

> it might subject me to vivisection

I’m having trouble finding anything about this. Do you have any references. This is a bit terrifying!

It's in this article: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007....

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