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FACEBOOK HAS ADDED an option to allow users to share their organ donor status on their timeline in a bid to increase the number of donors.
From today, users in the UK and the US will be able to register as an organ donor through the website and make their intentions known to people they are friends with on the site.
Around 18 people die around the world each day because there aren’t enough organ donors to meet the demand. Medical experts have said broader awareness about organ donation helps to increase the number of people who sign up to be organ donors.
In a statement today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg said they believed the social network had a role in helping.
We believe that by simply telling people that you’re an organ donor, the power of sharing and connection can play an important role.
174 transplants were carried out in Ireland in 2010, but over 630 people were on the waiting list at the time, according to the Irish Kidney Association.
The IKA last year launched organ donor card apps for iPhone and Android (see here and here) which allow users to make their intentions clear about organ donation.
My father passed away last year at the age of 54, he donated all his organs, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and in the end saved 6 people and prevented their families going through the same heart ache ours did when we lost him.
It should be mandatory for all to be organ donors unless you “opt-out” !
Cant remember what country it is but they flipped this organ donor thing right around by basically saying everyone is a donor. If you want off the register then contact them. This should be put into practice here.
Yip that’s a great solution makes sense
+1
A lot of (mainland) European countries have donation as an “opt-out” rather than something you purposefully sign up for, and it works – from a Washington Post article: “When Belgium instituted a presumed consent law in 1985, the number of organ donors nearly doubled within two years.”
It is in the current programme for government, so it may happen here in the next few years. But it is not as effective as putting trained dedicated donor coordinators in every hospital.
Great idea just wonder about the legalities of it in ireland ? Would that be enough I.E. how would they know in an accident situation if you didn’t carry a card as I imagine this will be a case with certain people who wouldn’t have both?!
Currently in Ireland the decision belongs to your next of kin.
What you have ticked on your drivers licence, donor card, Facebook, etc have no standing in law. The Donor Card exists to prompt a conversation between you and your family.
You are assuming I’m a driver of car? What if I am the passenger ?! I don’t drive just cycle !! But thanks for the info I didn’t know that ?! What’s the point then in having that option on your licence ??
The tickbox on your licence is there to prompt a conversation between you and your family.
If anyone’s interested there’s an Irish organ donor app for Android and probably for I phone that qualifies you as an organ donor. I think its called organ donor ecard. Just look up organ donor Ireland in the market.
Facebook does offer a free service with the caveat of bombardment of advertising and gathering lots of info on its users. timeline was also forced on users without agreement & it brings invasion of privacy to the next level, disclosing a users decision to donate organs is offensive and for the record, I do have an organ donating card but hardly think advertising my personal wishes on Facebook is appropriate
My daughter had Double Lung Transplant 5 years ago and we are eternally grateful to her Donor and Donor’s family. As a consequence we all carry Donor Cards and think this is great idea. Would b even better if Ireland followed other European countries and had *opt out* option…and considered everyone, unless *opted out* a Donor…would save a lot of lives <3
Facebook can bite me, they have some neck. This time line nonsense is a bridge to far for a lot of users, thank god for Goggle Chrome which stops time line displaying. Facebook is ironically quite like FG & Labour, experts in winding up and alienating people!
Imagine that they give you a free service and then they have the gall to decide to make changes to do something beneficial.
Michael,
If they’re not charging you, then you’re the product they’re selling.
I am well aware of that. I have a choice to put what I want on my profile. No one is telling anyone to put something there that they don’t want to. It is very simple if you don’t want to share info don’t put it there.
As long as it doesn’t encourage someone to take the organs before I’m quite ready to part with them. Recent allegations about Kosovo Government might be worth considering!
i will if facebook get rid of timeline..
jez it was a joke red thumbs :)
Although they currently have no legal standing in Ireland, Everyone should write a “living will”.
Write down what’s to happen to you (& your organs), in the event you’re unable to consent to anything. Coma, brain damage etc.
Sign & date & have it witnessed. Then tell everyone about it.
That way you’ll save your loved ones the heartache of wondering what you would have wanted or making the most difficult decision they’ll ever have to make
@ Fly the Irish flag….agree with you. That makes much more sense than having such a decision be voiced through the murky waters of Facebook.
I’m all for increasing organ donation, but in my opinion, this is a private choice and belongs nowhere on Facebook. Maybe I’m paranoid but imagine the ramifications ..ie: Joe has a daughter who needs a heart, Joe sees Facebook friend who’s checked off the donor info, Joe’s daughter getting sicker, Joe gets desperate, Joe manipulatively engages his friend in a series of Facebook messages, his friend says, if it was my time to go, I’d give your daughter my heart as that’s what friends would say, Joe gets desperate, plots to kill his friend, daughter gets heart based on the ‘proven’ conversation…I think these things should be left to legal documentation, not social media. Use Facebook to increase organ donor awareness, but not as a registry.
I’d say if joe was gonna kill to get a heart for his daughter then Joe wouldn’t give a fiddlers f**k wether a guy said it on FB or not though…..
@ Emsy: unless he wanted to ensure the heart went directly to his daughter and not some other poor soul on the donor list. Ha, blame news stories around the world for my grim imagination. But I do believe Facebook is too murky. Example: what if someone sets up a Facebook page using your name? Expresses intentions not your own? Too many legal implications.
Btw, I’m not making an argument against organ donation. Many lives depend on it. It’s just doing it through FB I have a problem with.
Teo,your preaching to the converted. I hate Facebook and deleted my account a long time ago. I was just being a smartarse ;)
Emsy, good call! I only have one to comment here- not familiar w the twitter world yet.
I’m not into twitter either but I have followers and I follow a few too,never really look at it though. Same as you,it’s only so I can comment here or sign in to other sites
How much more of your life do you want to get ruled by Facebook options? I’m all for saving lives and organ donor ship but think its just FB getting some publicity or tax dodge. Soon enough your personal time line will be examined and sold to others. So what if it’s free let’s build some new ones where privacy policies are clear and direct.
Android : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ie.ika.mobileapp
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/organ-donor-ecard/id423238225?mt=8
Cheers Eoin and Adrian, I’ll add those links to the piece.
What the hell is an Android ??!!!!!
Shame that app doesn’t work on all android enabled devices. Any time I try to download it I get told it isn’t compatible with my device :( (sorry for the ot)
John, Android is Google’s operating system for mobile phones.
It is used on the HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy, etc.
Also if giving your organs away benefits others to such a degree that it should be almost mandatory then why not everything else of societal benefit. No more driving like idiots less car licenses more proof that your not a danger just a thought out there in the crap weather. From a cyclist trying not to get killed.
I was born with all my organs in my body and i’ll die with them all in. The only way you will get my organs is if you pay for my funeral :D
You might die with them all in there but its about AFTER you die….hardly like your using them anymore…..
What if you get hit by a car? Who’s to say you’ll die with them all in. Your body would look like its been through a blender afterwords.
Very true Blaine….or if you fall from a very high building…..or if your murdered in a gruesome way….. ;)
My wink at the end is a little creepy…..wasn’t meant to be
Facebook has become seriously uncool seems like everyone is just waiting around for the next computer nerd to get dumped so he can invent the replacement for us! Timeline ruined Facebook!!!
switch to Myspace :))
@teo
Didn’t a recent Clint Eastwood go like that!
have your say