Organ donation query

Oh i know Diane....I just thought i'd tell my experience. I do have it in my will to donate but not on my drivers liscense anymore and its very specific as to what i would give.
Pat

On this subject of organ donation i have to tell you i always supported it until my husband died. He had on his drivers liscence that he would donate his organs . My husband died on the operating table during bypass..i was told he had a severe leaking mitral valve and had a major heart attack during surgery. They also could not find any viable veins for the bypass. All things they should have known ahead of time. He was put on a ventilator and i was told they were waiting for a heart. Even with my brain cells not functioning properly I wondered what they would attach the heart to if their were no viable veins? He was taken off the ventilator 4 hrs later and died at l2:01 a.m. After time with my family, much crying, and going home to contemplate what really happened i got a phone call at 4:30 in the morning from a young intern who just happened to notice on his liscence that he was a donor. OMG i thought...i should never have left him there. Time for recovery is only while the heart is still beating. Only a few things like corneas, tissue and bone can be taken within a 24 hr period. I was just mortified..there was no doubt the interns wanted to practice. I think i threatened her with her life if she laid one hand on him and i called the funeral home to go and get him right away and went back to the hospital until they came. I would have gladly honored his wish to give his kidneys or liver or other viable organs had they asked me at the hospital.....but this was just wrong.
pat

a lot of it varies by state.. here's a good article frpm the ACS.
www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_1_4x_Donation_by_Cancer_Survivors.asp
Pat