Man Wants to Donate His Heart Before He Dies

Gary Phebus wants to donate his heart, lungs, and liver. The problem is he wants to donate them before he dies. Gary was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2008. Phebus says he'd like to be able to donate his organs before they deteriorate, and doesn't consider his request suicide because he's "dead anyway."

Re:Are organ donations from diseased people good?

[Anonymous Coward]

RTFA, the organs he wants to donate are not affected by ALS. Do you really think it would have gone this far without first determining that? And if you don't want them, feel free not to take them, but I think you might feel different if your heart was ready to give out any day now.

Re:I fail to see what is newsworthy

[MoeDumb]

Not true. In NY for example it is illegal to remove a patient's organs before he has been pronounced dead by a physician using certain clinical criteria. Depending on the organs in question the pathologist has window of one to 24 hours for the tissue to be viable. A special case is when a patient is on a ventilator. He can be declared "brain dead" which is legally irreversible, clinical death, but all his organs can be kept 'alive' and healthy for days.

Re:Are organ donations from diseased people good?

[hipp5]

I'm not sure I'd want organs from someone who has ALS. Wouldn't that become a problem for me in time?

ALS is a disease of the central nervous system. His organs are likely fine, his central nervous system that controsl them is not.

Re:Kinda

[Animaether]

But what if I get one of the attempts wrong and bleed to death? When does it stop being artistic and become attempted suicide?

It becomes attempted suicide when your -goal- was your death.

If you chop off your leg because you think you'd be happier with that leg gone.. go for it. If you then can't stop the arterial bleeding and bleed to death.. well, whoops. But your goal was only to remove your leg, not to kill yourself. Therefore, not suicide.

Re:Kinda

[Rennt]

Why do people think motorcycles are dangerous?

1) MOTORCYCLISTS Selection bias favours thrill seekers & risk takers. 45% of all fatal bike accidents are single-vehicle accidents - they just fall off.
2) CARS. Even assuming other road users are paying attention (you should never assume this - ever) a car is made of metal and weighs 20 times what you do. Altercations between cars and squishy people do not end well, no matter how much leather said squishy person is wearing.
3) STATISTICS Motorcyclists are 16 times more likely to die in a crash. Total miles traveled by MC's makes up less then 1% of the national fleet, but bike riders make up 12% of the annual road toll.

Re:Kinda

[timeOday]

Perhaps it is not legal to assist suicide, but it is legal to buy a one-way ticket to a country where assisted suicide is legal. (Or put it on your credit card :) There was a frontline [pbs.org] on this. As it so happens the person in question also had ALS.

That's not true

[Rix]

You could put off the decision until it must be made.

Re:Kinda

[RichiH]

They don't just fall off. They slide out of curves, crash against stuff, etc.

To simply fall off without other influences, you must be _really_ inept.