Now Gordon wants your organs

Can't think of anything more selfish than not donating organs personally, and I'm quite surprised by the number of people on here saying 'I don't want someone to live after I've gone because it's a bit icky'.

used to give blood too, had this gold card for giving so much of the stuff, then they noticed some drugs in my blood and was told it was the drugs or giving blood. Decided to stick with the drugs

Got a doner card some place as well, organs not much use to me when dead..

You really are missing the point here , and you haven't got the ability to upset me lol , one of my boys needed a liver and kidney which came from a 30 year old welsh woman , the other needed 2 livers (first didn't work) the second came from a 34 year old irish man.
Now we are eternally grateful to the donors and their families who kindly donated their organs willingly.
The point i am raising is that until you are in the situation of waiting for organs to save your childs life then you will never fully understand what its like and how you will feel.
I would happily have given my organs to save my boys and we were on the brink of going to Belgium to do this before a donor became available.
Believe me you could not care less where these organs come from so long as they come in time to save your childs life , i would challenge anyone to think differently in our position !!
Seeing our boys leading a normal life is justification of anything that has happened beforehand !!

Yours is a heartwarming story Neaky. Did you know wether the donors were registered donors or wether as you say permission was given by the families. If it was the relatives who gave permission and the deceased weren't registered donors then there is proof the current system works.
I think basically the problem is noone trusts this governments word. If people who opted out could be assured their wishes were adhered to then the opt out system would be fine. If however there is some doubt and that you feel that your organs will still be taken because the database was wrong or someone didn't check properly (oops!) then there will always be resistance to an opt out system. Remember the Lisbon Treaty and the supposed referendum?
I feel for you in your position and you are right anyone in your position would feel exactly the same , perhaps as said it is a personal agenda for Mr Brown having had a son with cystic fibrosis.
What I do know is you cannot just blithely label people selfish for not being donors.
I myself have given blood but have never had a donor card. The reason being ironically that I have always competed in dangerous sports or done dangerous activities. I was scared that having a donor card would give someone an option not to try their best for me if I ever suffered severe injuries.
It was probably an irrational fear but in todays NHS one that I would consider more valid.I don't know wether they would consider my organs now at 49 but who knows I have lead a healthy life and am not on medication or in danger of heart attack etc. The other problem is actually now my wife who is a Catholic and has intense thoughts about respect for the dead. I will allow her to make the decision when I am gone. She is a good person and I am sure given a chance to help others she would make the right choice. I could not however make that assumption for her.
The option to donate is not as straightforward as you are making out by simply branding non donors selfish.
There is currently a 50/50 split between eligible adults who can make the choice wether to be donors or not and I suspect that is somewhere round about the level you would expect.

No it is not the case. Its my wife's views based on her religious upbringing but not on the views of the Catholic Church itself. She loves me and it would upset her if organs were taken. She would find it disrespectful. That's her view. She always comments on programmes where dead bodies are treated with less than the same dignity a live one is.

I suspect Jehovas Witnesses would be against being donors from a religious point of view.

I have never branded non donors selfish , what i have said is that people expect blood/organs to be there if they need them even if they don't donate themselves , i actually called them arrogant !!

I have no problem with people opting out for whatever reason , that is their choice but they should not be allowed to be put on the waiting list for a donor organ should they require one if they aren't willing to donate themself.
The thing is that i know lots of people who aren't on the donor register but have no objections to donating so in this case the presumed consent would work.
If you opt out then you are still exactly where you are now in relation to donating so that should keep them happy !!

By default i give no consent for anything, the whole concept of presuming consent, to me, is wrong. What's more i couldn't care less if a bunch of people think it's a good idea, my consent is not theirs to take. I won't be the only one who objects out-of-principle, regardless of any positive views they might have had in regards to organ donation.

OPT OUT if you feel strongly about it , the concept is simplicity itself

Quite sad really, given some spare time and a small amount of inclination i would be happy to give blood or whatever, now it seems i will have my hand forced into refusing out of principle, nice one Gordon.