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Comment by yonatan8070 | Hacker News Reader

This is incredible, but I can't help but wonder where they got the new part of the face and the eye?

A donor can't just donate that like they can with blood or a kidney. Is it only done with donations after death?

> “The donor hero was a young man in his 30s who came from a family that strongly supports organ donation. He, in support by his family, generously donated tissues leading to this successful face and eye transplant, but also saved three other individuals between the ages of 20 and 70, donating his kidneys, liver, and pancreas,” said Leonard Achan, RN, MA, ANP, president and CEO of LiveOnNY.

https://nyulangone.org/news/nyu-langone-health-performs-worl...

almost certainly a post-mortem donation. there's no shortage of people dying, after all. 150,000 a day, and not all elderly.

Unfortunately, very few people opt-in for organ donation. Thousands of people die a year waiting for transplants.

>Unfortunately, very few people opt-in for organ donation.

Wait, really?

This always seemed like a no-brainer to me. Why would people be opposed to this?

There is a theory that doctors won’t try as hard to save you if you’re an organ donor.

This is such a ludicrous theory that is sadly repeated often. It is extremely unlikely that your set of organs will be compatible with someone they know who needs organs. Even then, a nurse or allied health professional is much more likely to make a medical error which kills you. You'd be surprised at how thin the line between life and death is, especially for people on death's door.

I'm thankful I live in a country where opt-out is the norm.

To each their own. From a purely objective standpoint, I hope you or a loved one don't need a liver transplant one day (and consent to receiving one).

I think you misunderstand. The default in your correspondent's country is for people to be organ donors.

Yes, exactly, "norm" as in "legal norm".

And even then, it has no actual legal effect if you do, because at death your body becomes the property of your next of kin. It's just another part of the estate. They absolutely can override your wishes, and the most you can do is put a clause in your will that says "if my organs are not offered for donation, Andrew gets $0.10 (ten cents) inheritance; if they are, he receives 100%".

Which is weird, because I've never spoken with anybody who hasn't opted in. I think there's a legal disconnect somewhere, where the simple opt-in at the DMV doesn't end up counting as a 'real' opt-in.

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