Sorry, Iflitifloat but this one of the reasons why…….- Page 2

[Plum]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 12:38pm

*sigh* You should have seen the look on my parents' faces when I told them I would prefer to be cremated. I think burial is pretty useless, really. If there's an afterlife, only my soul is going there. If there isn't an afterlife, I'd rather be fertilizer than be buried six feet underground in an overcrowded cemetary, stuffed to the gills with nasty preservative chemicals. What's better than giving life in death?

[Plum]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 12:58pm

Bwah. For once we agree on something. Golf is the most ridiculous game- Robin Williams summed it up beautifully in his HBO special.

18 F*****G HOLES!!!

Posted: 10/6/04 at 1:48pm

"Golf requires goofy pants and a fat ass."
-Happy Gilmore

[DofB5]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 7:38pm

Mythology being one of my favorite things, I thought you might enjoy a little more information on the Egyptian judgment of the dead.

"...In Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead...the dead man's heart, deemed to be the seat of the intellect and will and well as the life-giving center of the physical body, is weighed against the symbol of ma'at [justice] (usually depicted as a feather), which serves as an ethical standard. Anubis, who has become an attendant of Osiris, lord of the nether world, is master of the balance, and is in control of the pointer; the scribe Thoth records the verdict and announces it. If the verdict should be unfavorable, the sinner falls victim to 'the devourer', a hybrid monster with the head and jaws of a crocodile. If the verdict should be favorable, the deceased in invested with the attribute of ma'at and as 'one who has been vindicated' is brought before Osiris, seated upon his throne."
- Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion

As to being filled with chemicals to preserve the body. I wouldn’t worry about it. I’ve read that our bodies are already so filled with the stuff that they are not breaking down like they used to. In fact, during floods, bodies that were buried months before have washed up and have been found floating down the river or the street.

With all the hurricanes and flooding we've had over the past few weeks, it gives new meaning to "The South will rise again".

D

[Pip]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 10:00pm

The tangent that this thread took, though very interesting I have to admit, takes us away from the original subject matter. I'm bumping this up just as a reminder to everyone to seriously consider signing a donor card. The cited link is disappointing in that it casts doubts on the wonderfully good work that transplant teams do all over the country. Can mistakes happen? Sure, but the overwhelming majority of the time one family's tragedy turns into another family's hope for the future. I can't think of a better legacy that your death can leave than...life. I lost a friend in a car accident and out of that tragedy, because he chose to be a donor, 15 people benefited from his skin, corneas, and other organs. He still lives through them. Please seriously consider making this commitment!

[Plum]

Posted: 10/6/04 at 10:22pm

If a Jewish (or Egyptian) corpse is not "intact" at death and burial, is there a problem forseen with the spirit reclaiming it? For example,if the person were mangled in an accident, eaten by an animal, or dismembered by a murderer and buried in separate places.

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to get it as intact as possible. That's why one of the first tasks after suicide bombings is to sift through the rubble and gather every body part. Especially because Judaism calls for burial within one day of death.

Also, sometimes coffins have holes drilled in them to help the body return to the earth faster. So maybe cremation isn't allowed because it isn't a direct return to the earth. Which is okay, actually.

Yes, I'm a bad bad Jew. Updated On: 10/6/04 at 10:22 PM

Posted: 10/7/04 at 10:28am

Yes, sign your donor card to the best extent your beliefs allow.

[mominator]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 11:53am

Yes sign your card bUT also let your family know of your wishes as well. The hospital still needs the next of kins permission ( I find this to be so strange!)

Posted: 10/7/04 at 12:05pm

I agree that's it's strange.

You'd think signing the card would make it legal.

Now in Illinois, when you renew your License they ask you "would you like to be a donor" if you say yes then the word "DONOR" appears in red letters next to your picture on the license it's self. Now you'd think THAT would be legally binding.

What concerns me is that I don't have any local family. In fact my "contact in case of emergency' person is my brother who lives 800 miles away.

Would they wait for him to show up before they harvested my organs? That's stupid.

It worse for people who aren't on speaking terms with their next of kin.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:47pm

The reason the next of kin's permission is obtained even in the presence of a signed donor card is because the negative publicity that would result from going against the wishes of the family during a time of grief would be damaging and probably result in a decrease in donation.

But signing a card makes a statement that someone has thought about the issue and makes their wishes known. It takes the pressure of "making the right decision" off of someone who is usually grieving an vulnerable.

Meanwhile, I just heard a segment about the Denver case on NPR's news. I am trying to find a link and will post it when I do. It turns out that the coroner who labeled the donation a homicide, was confused about brain death and donation, and....I love this...was an elected official and NOT EVEN A DOCTOR. Good grief.
More to follow.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:22am

And here is the link to the story on NPR. I hope DofB5, and others who were so quick to perpetuate the notion that the transplant community is ripping organs out of people who aren't even dead, will take the time to listen to this short news segment. It is a far cry from what the headlines proclaimed on the CNN link that DofB provided a couple of days ago.


NPR link