LETTER: It's how we live, not for how long

My body now belongs to the NHS, to do with as they will, unless I put in place an ‘opt out’, which presumably I must carry about my person for fear of having my body violated. How dare politicians and doctors put this in place?

Be grateful for those who want to donate, but do not put the onus on those of us who do not, in any form or fashion, want our bodies to be harvested for our organs once we are declared brain dead. Those who are declared brain dead have to be kept on a ventilator to make the organs viable, so the donor’s loved ones can’t even turn of the machines.

The NHS is on its knees, the population is living longer and now the government want to burden the NHS with further spending on transplants. Remember it’s not just the transplant, which runs into thousands of pounds, it’s the aftercare as well. What is going to happen? Will after ten or 15 years the NHS decide to pull the plug on various drugs to keep the transplant recipient alive because they can’t afford them any longer?

Why won’t politicians, doctors and the general public realise we are supposed to die? It may not be timely and sometimes it’s tragic but that’s the cycle of life. We’re born, we live and then we die.

It’s not how long, it’s how we live that matters. Get to grips with that fact and we’ll all be happier with our lot.

Gina Scotting, Monks Close, Lancing

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