From: oleg@crumpet.cts.com (Oleg Rovner)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Be a Non-Donor!
Date: 20 Jul 92 09:47:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: crumpet.oleg.02of
Distribution: usa
Organization: We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith

In article <1992Jul16.182223.9599@ttinews.tti.com> paulb@harley.tti.com (Paul Blumstein) writes:
>ABATE of CA is using various approaches to get rid of the helmet law.
>
>When it was voted in, one of our most vocal opponents was the
>California Medical Assoc. (CMA*). It may have to come to a vote again.
>To stop their "interference", ABATE had told them that if they plan to
>push a helmet law, we will arm motorcyclists with "non donor cards".
>They said: "you can't do that!".  Anyway, we gave them some time to
>think about it & they have not committed to lay off the helmet law
>issue.
>
>* (not to be confused with the California Motorcycle Association).
>
>So, it is now time to get tough.  ABATE is distributing bright neon
>reddish-orange "non-donor" cards.  We will rip them up, once the
>CMA backs off.  Until then, once a few of these show up, they will
>know that we mean business.  Organ transplants mean lots of profits
>for Doctors... this will hit them where it hurts.
>
>If you can't get hold of a non-donor card, make up your own.  The
>text follows:
>
  +-------------------------------------------------------+
  +                    |
  +        MEDIC ALERT       |
  +        NON-DONOR CARD       |
  +                    |
  +   In case of death, absolutely none of my body parts   |
  +   may be used for any medical purpose in any state  |
  +   with a mandatory motorcycle helmet law in effect. |
  +                    |
  +   Name _________________________________________ |
  +   Signature ___________________________________  |
  +   Witness ______________________________________ |
  +-------------------------------------------------------+
>
>============================================================================

>"The advantage of being a misanthrope is that you never have to worry about
>saying or doing something that will cause you to lose friends" -- Blumstein
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Paul D. Blumstein, paulb@tti.com, DoD #36, KD6LAA, LS/MFT
        Transaction Technology, Inc., Santa Monica, CA

As someone who rides and is also a transplant recipient (living related
donor, kidney,  July 19th 1990), I find the above sickening. While one's
body is one's property, and Paul is perfectly welcome to douse himself
with gasoline as he sets out on each ride, just to make sure that nothing
useful remains after a crash, punishing sick people for lobbying efforts
of the AMA is not attractive.

Let me state a few facts about transplants:
Thousands of people are waiting for donor organs, some have been waiting
for years, some have waited too long and are dead.

Your body will not be used as a source for organs until consent is obtained
from your next of kin, even if  you DO have a signed organ donor card. The
card IS helpful in letting your next of kin know your wishes.

The ER teams working on you and the surgeons removing organs for donation
are different people, the docs will work just as hard to save you if you
are a donor as if were not.

In case some wreck.moto readers still think that "punishing the CMA" is
a good idea, here are a few symptoms that a person with kidney failure
suffers. Think whether CMA's support for helmet legislation should prevent
you from possibly helping out someone who is suffering these symptoms. These
are from memory, and in rough chronological order, as I have experienced
them.

1. Low energy levels. It becomes hard to do anything involving physical
activity, from strenuous exercise early on to walking as the disease
progresses.

2. Lack of appetite, all food starts tasting the same, and loses flavor. One
starts becoming nauseated.

3. Swollen extremeties.

4. Poison buildup in the system leads to shortened attention span, decreased
mental acuity, it becomes hard to follow the action on television, much
less read.

Naturally there are strict dietary restrictions. No sodium, limited fluid
intake, very low protein. There are two alternatives to transplantion,
the first is dialysis, a treatment in which artificial filtering systems
are used to perform part of the kidney function (there are two alternatives,
an implant in a blood vessel, where the patient undergoes dialysis in an
outpatient setting, 3 times a week, 4 hours per or a stomach area implant
where the dialysis is self-administered nightly), the second is death. When
I discovered that was going to need a transplant I decided that dialysis
was not an option at 22.

Your body is yours to do with as you please, but being a "non-donor" means
not only "hitting them ["the Doctors"] where it hurts, but helping to
prolong someone's private hell. Make your own conclusions, I know
that I will be calling ABATE in the morning to let them know what I think
as a biker and a transplant recepient.

Oleg
DoD 388

P.S. Yeah, I do carry an organ donor card. If I crash, they can get
three kidneys out of me :-)
--
...!crash!crumpet!oleg * "These matches are designed especially for damp
        or             *   climates, but they will not light when wet"
oleg@crumpet.cts.com   *                           -US Army
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles