How difficult is it to identify your body? Got finger prints,
Singapore citizens bingo in a few seconds. Only unidentified,
unclaimed bodies are considered for medical uses. Only after
attempts are made to trace relatives. They are also selective, only
certain bodies are used, and sometimes only certain parts.
Unclaimed bodies are either cremated or buried, depending
whether they are identified or not.
Organs of raod kills are seldom harvested. The person must die
in hospitals to qualify.
You don't want to donate when you are dead, means you don't want
to receive when you are alive.
The most common type of organ transplant is the kidney. HOTA
only covers kidney, liver, heart and corneas. So as far as organ
donor priviledge goes, it mostly applies to kidneys.
If one is poor, one is unlikely to be able to afford the waiting
time for say a kidney. For many poor people, early death may be a
more attractive option than a prolonged life that results in even
more financial difficulties.
If one is rich, buying a kidney poses little problems.
The highest chance of finding a good organ donor-recipient match
is from one's siblings. For such cases, dont even need to queue up
if the sibling or relatives are willing to help.
Waiting list for a kidney is in term of years. This organ
donor priviledge act benefits only a small minority of people. Have
you seen the anguish on the relatives faces when their loved ones
die, and the surgeon shoos them away and remove a kidney from their
deceased loved one?
Really all these laws are only concerned with helping out the
medical community. The surgeons need corpses to practise on, the
organ transplant team needs ready access to fresh organs to ply
their trade. The plastic surgeons need bodies to perfect their art.
But the medical community is not willing to pay for dead
bodies. A fresh corpse is worth a lot of money. Why else is the SGH
mortuary surrounded by high fences with many red notice
boards saying "protected place". The mortuary is actually the
most secure place in the whole hospital. Why? Because dead bodies
are more valuable than living diseased bodies lying in the
wards.