The donating of a person's organs (in the event of death) has gone from being highly controversial to an accepted practice in the last thirty years or so.  Are there still some serious issues you should consider before agreeing to become an organ donor in the event of your own death?  Read on for an overview of the different issues involved and decide for yourself.

Although the first human kidney transplant was done in the 1950s, organ donation first started to become a major public issue back in the mid to late 1960s.  This gathered pace with experimental human organ transplants becoming world news after Dr Christiaan Barnard performed what was then considered the first human heart transplant in South Africa in 1967.  In the case of this operation, and most subsequent heart transplants up to 1975, the patient survived no more than weeks or months because of rejection of the transplanted organ.  As a result, many countries closed their hospital heart transplant facilities.   

However, in the early 1980s this problem was largely removed by the development of immune system suppressing drugs.  At this stage, heart transplant clinics were gradually re-established in hospitals across the Western world. 

What is the major issue to consider as a donor?  Without doubt the major issue for any organ donor to consider is that of the definition of brain death.  This is when doctors determine that, as a critically injured or ill person, brain death has now occurred and there is no prospect of saving your life.  If you have given consent, and your relatives agree to allow you to be a donor, harvesting of your organs to save other people's lives begins at this point.  

Ever since the advent of transplant surgery, concern was always expressed over the ethics of the concept of brain death as a reliable indication of death.  Moreover, there is the added dilemma of bodily organs needing to be removed while the donor's heart is still beating.  For instance, for organs such as kidneys and livers and the heart itself to be in the best possible condition for the recipient, the heart must keep the body functioning for as long as possible while these organs are extracted. 

Generally, the patient will not be anaesthetized during the process of organ removal because of the belief that brain death is sufficiently absolute to prevent any suffering by the donor.  Some transplant surgeons have expressed doubt about this process in the past.  There has also been concern expressed over whether doctors give up on the critically ill donor too soon so the recipient can benefit. 

As a donor, only you can decide whether you are comfortable with this procedure for the removal of your organs in the event of death.  From my own perspective, I have decided not to become an organ donor because I am not comfortable with the whole process of organ donation.