Thursday, April 19, 2007
~ HOTA ~
11:08:00 pm
Let's face it... More and more young people in Singapore are opting out of the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA)...
Click
here for article from the New Paper which was published on Tuesday, 17th March 2007...
Selfish? I guess it's just human nature... People tend to 'protect' themselves before something really happens to them...
But honestly, I doubt many would actually know what is HOTA... Well, probably not before the incident which happened a few months back...
The incident that involved a young healthy man who had brain aneurysm and pronounced brain dead and his family pleaded with the doctors not to harvest his internal organs just yet... Well, it was a big hoo-haa which was published in the news...
But believe it or not... The HOTA actually was established since 1987!!! Although it was revised here and there along the way...
I didn't know about the Act myself... Not until I went into the nursing course and learnt bits and pieces about the law... I would not even give a hoot about it if I didn't know anything...
Back to the issue that more youngsters are opting out of HOTA, it's kind of disheartening to learn that the young society is not very willing to donate their organs should anything happen to them... But again, they are not fully to be blamed...
If I were to imagine myself having to choose between opting in or out, I would be in a dilemma too... At such a young age on making a life-long decision, I would feel scared... Afterall, you don't know what would happen tomorrow...
But if I were to put myself in the shoes of the person who is in need of a transplant, be it liver, kidney or heart; even a small organ would mean the WORLD to me...
It's not an easy matter... Many things work both ways... Although I am automatically opted out of HOTA due to my religion, that doesn't mean that I would not want to opt in... But it's too early to decide...
written, NaDiaH eRNiYaNTi
