Yeah, it 100% should be opt out, not opt in.
Hold on, is being an organ donor something you cannot opt out in the US?
Its an Opt In system. Which means you have to sign up, and your next of kin needs to know you’ve signed up, to he an organ donor.
But if it’s an opt-out system, you need a way to check that the person has not opted out. Lots of people don’t have IDs on them when they die, so you would have to (correctly!) identify them and check if they had opted out. Otherwise, you run the risk of taking someone’s organs against their explicit wishes (that they actively expressed).
Also, it would need to be easy to opt out so that people don’t lose their right to say no because they don’t know how to exercise it.My first thought is something along the lines of those medical alert bracelets, an indicator on your ID/license, or a separate card you would carry in your wallet announcing that you have elected to NOT be an organ donor- supplied free of charge when you announce your intention to opt out (however that looks.)
And yes, it should be as easy as possible to make your wishes know. A single box to check somewhere.
My first thought is “require positive evidence that they have not opted out.” But then, easy-access opt out is by far the more difficult end of the problem.
Also yknow, making sure that the framing doesn’t position people who opt-out as being selfish, because that’s totally a thing you could get ostracized for (esp it being used as a cover for going after minority religions)
That’s part of “easily accessible” to me. Having to walk through a hate mob to get to a clinic isn’t “easily accessible.” Being ostracised and shunned for something you may need to do isn’t “easily accessible.” Having to choose between friends and family, and the best care for you isn’t ‘easily accessible.“
This is why “easily accessible” is, to put it mildly, a Hard Problem.
Yikes, y’all are putting an alarming degree of faith in the bureaucratic process to respect the principle of Bodily Autonomy, especially in a time when reactionary politics are re-surging around the globe.
It would be incredibly easy to de-legitimize someone’s opt-out wishes. The paperwork got lost, or “was never submitted”. There was an “error” on the paperwork that invalidates the entire application. The forms have been updated, so you need to restart the application from scratch. The issuing office “ran out” of confirmation ID/card/tags, but they promise to send it! and it gets “delayed” in the mail (indefinitely). The confirmation ID/card/tags are conveniently “not on the corpse” when the organs are harvested and Oopsy daisy, well we can’t put them back now!
And this is assuming a system where opting-out is designed to be straightforward process. With simple forms translated into multiple languages that can be easily submitted to an easy-to-find & easy-to-access office, with equally accessible, open-to-the-public hours. Or an online portal that is constantly maintained with year-round enrollment. A system that is adequately funded and staffed, and frequently issues updates to healthcare providers and emergency responders.
Not to mention the very reasonable situations @wetwareproblem mentioned when it comes to “easily accessible”, situations that, every day, people with uteruses struggle to navigate when they try to exercise their fundamental right to Bodily Autonomy.
An opt-out system could easily lower barriers to respecting the bodily autonomy of people that are arbitrarily deemed more valuable dead than alive. Political dissidents. Ethnic or religious minorities. Queer folk. People with uteruses. Prisoners. Undocumented residents. Refugees.
You know, people that many of our societies already struggle to respect as human beings.
I’d like to add that I opted in to donating my organs (and I COME FROM a minority culture that is strongly averse to organ donation).
Do you think organ donation should be an oppt out system. You’re automatically an organ donor unless you go out of your way not to be.
Published
sky's stuff 