Anyone who gets or renews a driver’s license is bombarded with requests to become an organ donor. Many people sign up without a second thought, believing altruistically that it is the right thing to do. “Donor Dilemma” revealed many reasons people should consider that decision carefully and why it might be time for reforms in the nation’s organ and tissue donation system. When a donor dies, health workers rush to salvage what they can: the liver, the heart, skin tissue. Each has an important purpose – and a price tag in a lucrative trade with little financial oversight, the Trib found. Donor families, meanwhile, get thank-you cards but not much else – not even help with costly funeral expenses.
