Organ Donation

Organ donation takes healthy organs and tissues from one person for transplantation into another. Experts say that the organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people. Organs you can donate include

Internal organs: Kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs
Skin
Bone and bone marrow
Cornea

People of all ages and background can be organ donors. If you are under age 18, your parent or guardian must give you permission to become a donor. If you are 18 or older you can show you want to be a donor by signing a donor card. You should also let your family know your wishes.

National Women's Health Information Center

Organ Donation on Wikipedia

'''Organ donation''' is the removal of specific tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting them into other persons.

Political issues

There are also extremely controversial issues regarding how organs are allocated between patients. For example, some believe that livers should not be given to alcoholics in danger of reversion, while some view alcoholism as a medical condition like diabetes. Healthy humans have two kidneys, a redundancy that enables living donors (''inter vivos'') to give a kidney to someone who needs it. The most common transplants are to close relatives, but people have given kidneys to other friends; in one case, a teacher gave a kidney to one of her students. The Spanish transplant system is one of the most successful in the world, but still can't meet the demand. Donations from corpses are anonymous, and a network for communication and transport allows fast extraction and transplant across the country. Under Spanish law, every corpse can provide organs unless the deceased person expressly rejected it. Nonetheless, doctors ask the family for permission (making it very similar in practice to the United States system). The enforcing of helmet wearing for bikers, though, has reduced the number of young healthy donors. Under United States law, the regulation of organ donations is left to the fifty U.S. states. A Uniform Anatomical Gift Act seeks to streamline the process and standardize the rules among the various states, but it still requires that the donor make an affirmative statement during his lifetime that he is willing to be an organ donor. Many states have sought to encourage the donations to be made by allowing the consent to be noted on the driver's license. Still, it remains an opt-in system rather than the Spanish style opt-out system (which still seeks family consent, however).

Safety issues

Donated organs, ... [ Read More ]

External Resources

RENTHeads United Oklahoma City Chapter - This is a local site for the larger world wide organization RENTHeads United. It's a non-profit corporation donating to several nation wide charities. It was founded by and is run by the fans.

Chequamegon Children's Theater - Drummond, WI. Upcoming and past performances, information on auditioning, donating time and/or resources, a brief history or the organization.

Cedar County Theatre - Non-profit organization providing opportunities to participate in and enjoy all facets of community theatre. Productions past and present, membership, donation, and contact information.

Charitable Crafters - Duluth, MN based organization that seeks to inspire those that crochet, knit, sew, quilt, and spin for charitable donation.

PhilLesh.net - The Donor Zone - Information on organ and tissue donation and becoming an organ donor.

California Traditional Music Society - Events, photo album, donations and publications from this organization, preserving traditional folk music, dance and related arts of America's diverse cultural heritage.

Arrowhead Arts Association - Dedicated to bringing fine music to the San Bernardino mountain communities. It is a non-profit organization, community based and supported by donations. Site includes a schedule of events, history, and information on youth scholarships.

X-Tra Online - Quarterly journal published to promote and provoke critical discourse about contemporary visual art in Los Angeles, and beyond. Includes selected articles and information on organization, donations, and advertising.

The Healing Art Foundation - Fundraising group that brings breast cancer survivors and Tattooist together. Features organization information, donation details, and "artists helping artists" program.

Bobby Sherman Volunteer EMT Foundation - Non-profit organization created by Bobby Sherman for raising funds for emergency volunteer medical service in Southern California. Includes information on how to make donations for this worthy cause.