You'll have to read through the whole thing.
What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card
Giving away your organs sounds noble, but have doctors blurred the line between life and death?
http://online.wsj.co...0906351598.html
I always thought there were standard tests that involve SOLID evidence that you were really brain dead. They squirt water in your ears? Poke your eyes? Check for gag reflex? See if you can breathe alone? Each one except the last could very well have "missed" signals if the doctor sees your body as that $2 million-per-body the hospital system gets.
What if there is sound evidence that you are alive after being declared brain dead? In a 1999 article in the peer-reviewed journal Anesthesiology, Gail A. Van Norman, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Washington, reported a case in which a 30-year-old patient with severe head trauma began breathing spontaneously after being declared brain dead. The physicians said that, because there was no chance of recovery, he could still be considered dead. The harvest proceeded over the objections of the anesthesiologist, who saw the donor move, and then react to the scalpel with hypertension.
If you don't sign the card, your family can decide to donate your organs, but they can request an EEG instead of relying on the doctor's word from his tests. The FAMILY has the right to decide, not the medical personnel.
