Organ Donation

As part of my NY State driver's license renewal, I had to check off that I was willing to be an organ donor. I have never had a problem with that and think of what a great humanitarian I am to make the blind see and the lame walk, or something like that.

It used to be that you'd just sign a portion of your license, but NY State is doing a database and so I received a letter from the Department of Health confirming I'm now in this database as an organ donor and that I have given permission for my organs to be donated or.... USED FOR RESEARCH!

What??

I have zero problem... in fact, I'm really thrilled to be an organ donor meaning my organ goes in someone else's body... but to have my liver dissected at a medical school... gee, not what I signed up for.

The letter gave a web site that you could go to in order to make changes. After a few minutes, it seemed foolish to me to care one way or another. I won't be using them and I did think that I could still be a humanitarian in helping find a cure to a disease or something.

When it was just a donor to someone else, I specified that I'd give everything but skin, as I couldn't stand the thought of being "skinned" but then I relented and said take anything.

I am not sure what bothers me about the research angle, but I've let go of it -- well, at least a little, and I don't feel strongly enough to go change it.