So when I'm bored I have a habit of asking friends hypothetical questions like: "If you could do *this girl* or *that girl* which one would you pick and you can't say neither"
Recently I asked a friend (whom I know to be rather sensitive) whether or not he would give part of his liver to a 6 year old girl he's never heard, being fully aware of the risks (death, severe complications, etc).
Note: I'm pretty sure this procedure can't actually happen because the two people have to be relatively the same size or something like that. This is just hypothetical.
He said yes. He said he would risk his life, get a big scar, spend a few days in bed and put up with whatever complications might occur just to save one little girl out of so many people who die every day.
My bullshit-meter went nuts when he told me that, but he seems to insist that he would probably do it. Some might call it a virtue. I'm all for donating blood to strangers and little things like that, but risking your life for someone you don't know seems very ridiculous to me.
What do you guys think? How many people would really risk their life for a stranger?
This post really made me think about an article from cracked.com about the "monkeysphere" I know it doesn't answer your question but it might get some discussion going on. :3
On June 29 2010 10:19 Destro wrote: as long as it doesnt cost me money.
...joking..
i would for a child, but not a grown adult.
So today you'd go get a risky surgery and be in bed for a couple of day to save a little girl you've never heard of?
Seems... odd.
your context is a little strange, because it would never happen. where as a speeding car headed for a little girl id definately jump and push her out of the way obviously severely injuring myself.
On June 29 2010 10:19 Destro wrote: as long as it doesnt cost me money.
...joking..
i would for a child, but not a grown adult.
So today you'd go get a risky surgery and be in bed for a couple of day to save a little girl you've never heard of?
Seems... odd.
your context is a little strange, because it would never happen. where as a speeding car headed for a little girl id definately jump and push her out of the way obviously severely injuring myself.
Hypothetical questions are often pretty strange and unlikely =P. And I wouldn't jump if it looked like I'd die for it... If the worst that was going to happen was I would scratch myself up on the concrete I'd certainly do that, but I certainly wouldn't jump to "shield" someone I don't know.
I don't think donating your liver will be a problem if you're healthy enough
Even the healthiest person can die getting surgery. Odds aren't very high but it's still something like 1 out of 1000 which is significant imo.
I actually went into the conversation the other day. I don't think I would. I am a bit of a cold person in some ways, and this makes me seem like a bit of a dick, but oh well, there's no way in hell I'd make a risk like that for a stranger.
A couple nights ago, my mom and I were discussing the whole thing about "If you had a sick child that could only get fixed by having another child and using it's (insert organ here, for now we'll say bone marrow), would you have another child for the sole purpose of using it to save the other?" She thought I was kind of a monster when I said absolutely, but I don't see why not? Hell, I'd be willing to harvest that thing for any parts I need if it meant my first born wanted child could live. Reap it, reap it for all it has.
What I find funny is, people tell you they'll give part of their liver (hypothetically - and we know that what people say and what they do are VERY different things)
So they'd give part of their liver to save one little girl...
Then you tell them this: If you care so much, go to Haiti with $2000. Save a bunch of little girls! But usually that's too much to ask... Very weird how it works.
On June 29 2010 10:49 Djzapz wrote: What I find funny is, people tell you they'll give part of their liver (hypothetically - and we know that what people say and what they do are VERY different things)
So they'd give part of their liver to save one little girl...
Then you tell them this: If you care so much, go to Haiti with $2000. Save a bunch of little girls! But usually that's too much to ask... Very weird how it works.
Yup. This couldn't be more true.
On a side note, fuck Haiti. Now before I get flamed for being an insensitive prick: They got a ton of money from around the world, and places like Chile, hit right after by a larger one, got no attention or publicity, and only a fraction of the relief money. Too many bleeding hearts tossed as much money as they could out for Haiti, and had nothing left to give when Chile got hit. Fuck Haiti, just saying.
On June 29 2010 10:57 Piste wrote: You should lie him that you found a 6 year old girl who needs parts of a liver from the internet. see if he's still up for it.
On June 29 2010 10:49 Djzapz wrote: What I find funny is, people tell you they'll give part of their liver (hypothetically - and we know that what people say and what they do are VERY different things)
So they'd give part of their liver to save one little girl...
Then you tell them this: If you care so much, go to Haiti with $2000. Save a bunch of little girls! But usually that's too much to ask... Very weird how it works.
Yup. This couldn't be more true.
On a side note, fuck Haiti. Now before I get flamed for being an insensitive prick: They got a ton of money from around the world, and places like Chile, hit right after by a larger one, got no attention or publicity, and only a fraction of the relief money. Too many bleeding hearts tossed as much money as they could out for Haiti, and had nothing left to give when Chile got hit. Fuck Haiti, just saying.
Haiti is a shit poor country where none of the buildings conformed to any sort of earthquake code. Half the country collapsed and the survivors lacked things like food and basic medicine. An earthquake in Haiti is a fucking disaster; the death toll is comparable to that huge fucking tsunami that hit Asia a while back.
The earthquake in Chile sucked, no doubt, but there is absolutely no sort of reasonable comparison here. It's like comparing the Iran-Iraq War to WWII, which is what the death toll ratio comes resembles.
People dead in Chilean earthquake: 500-600 People dead in Haitian earthquake: 92,000-230,000
ON TOPIC: I guess that many of the people who say yes are not saying it out of the infinite selflessness of a sainted heart, but because they don't value their own lives very much at all. If the rest of your life is super lame you might as well do something wonderful before you depart.
On June 29 2010 10:57 Piste wrote: You should lie him that you found a 6 year old girl who needs parts of a liver from the internet. see if he's still up for it.
that may not work, since he probably knows that there're preliminary checks to make sure the livers are compatible.
i dont see how its possible for anyone to ever get into this situation. it just doesnt make sense to me.
On June 29 2010 10:57 Piste wrote: You should lie him that you found a 6 year old girl who needs parts of a liver from the internet. see if he's still up for it.
that may not work, since he probably knows that there're preliminary checks to make sure the livers are compatible.
i dont see how its possible for anyone to ever get into this situation. it just doesnt make sense to me.
yeah, but its impossible to even imagine a possible situation for me to place myself in. i kinda need to do at least that much, you know. placing myself into these hypothetical shoes
Totally wouldn't..I don't care how sick and dying the child is. It's next to suicide in My books..Seriously.. It's like someone asking if they can borrow half of your lung..
IF I WAS DEAD ON THE OTHER HAND..I wouldn't care all that much..would just rot anyways, aslong as they tattoo the child who has my liver.. Like a really obvious tatoo or a full body tatoo... The conversation with the little girl and her parents.. Parent: Honey, we found a match..he's dead though.. Little Girl: OMG mommy that's awesome! I love ponies Parent: Yes..but the only catch is in the will that whoever gets the liver has to get a full body spiderman tatoo Little Girl: COOL Little Girl in 15 years: WTF? Parent: what have I done..
I'm going to go against the majority here, because I honestly would give part of my liver to save a little girl. I mean, no one says that you're certainly going to die if you do it (obviously if it was certain of killing me I wouldn't, that's literally suicide).
I really think that if I didn't do it I would always think about the little girl who died because I couldn't do that for her.
On June 29 2010 12:46 Belegorm wrote: Seems like most here wouldn't do it.
I'm going to go against the majority here, because I honestly would give part of my liver to save a little girl. I mean, no one says that you're certainly going to die if you do it (obviously if it was certain of killing me I wouldn't, that's literally suicide).
I really think that if I didn't do it I would always think about the little girl who died because I couldn't do that for her.
People die all the time because you won't give your liver then... People die all the time because you don't fly to countries and directly save their lives or pay to help them. There are countries where you can pretty much literally pay to keep them from starving. That's just money too.
To the OP: Does your friend use a computer? drive a car? the money he spent on those things could have been used to save countless lives. Ask him why he'll go through surgery to save the life of one kid but not sacrifice a few creature comforts to help ship out medical supplies to save hundreds of kids in 3rd world countries.
The thing about morality is we turn it off and on like a tap.
Edit: guy above me got in before I did, but yah my point still stands.
yeah, I wouldn't either give my liver to some unknown litle girl. I think the main reason is the impersonality of the situation, for starters, she's a complete stranger, also, does she reaaally need the liver? am i even sure the liver is going to help?
the little girl about to get run over by a car is a lot diferent in my opinion. you're witnessing it in first place, asuming you even have time to react, it's because you can predict all the blood and gut splashing that will occur if nothing is done. That will touch your empathic side, witch everyone have and you will be much more likely to do something. I guess that if you even can move and do something you can judge wether your action can save the girl or if it's hopeless, in the forst case, I guess alot of persons would jump, I know i would.
Recently I was talking with a friend about a similar imaginary situation, this time you're not merely a spectactor witnessing, but an actor of the play. YOU'RE driving the car and you're about to smash said little girl. It's already too late to do a clean stop, you can either make a panic brake and avoid the girld but smash into the background, resulting in sever injurys to yourself and other persons... or simply clench your teeths and keep the car going...
my guess is that the majority would try to avoid it...
If he (or other people) really believes that he would give away part of his liver to some random person, he can probably set something up with some sort of charitable organization tommorow. There are thousands of people on a long waiting list, waiting for donors of various organs.
I would not. I highly doubt most people would give away their livers partially to other people. Especially the ones who say they would. Because well, then why haven't you done so already? Got lots of homework tonight? Got a date tommorow? Working extra shifts tommorow night? Yeah...
It would depend on the situation, but in most cases I would probably say no. But, if it was family or a close friend, then I would most definitely say yes.
On June 29 2010 14:29 MaReK wrote: It would depend on the situation, but in most cases I would probably say no. But, if it was family or a close friend, then I would most definitely say yes.
Yeah the idea is that you don't know the little girl at all.
I would do it for pretty much any friend. Even the ones I don't really like!
This is actually something I've thought long and hard about. There is a shortage of organ donors in my country and apparently the risk is actually very negligible - I can't remember the exact statistic but comparitively there was like a greater risk of dying from falling off a horse when you go riding than this.
Would I jump in front of a train to try rescue someone who was about to get hit? Probably. But for some reason organ donation just seems a whole lot scarier. I guess there haven't been many mainstream macho action movies based on heroes giving their organs to save people to make it seem cool enough.
On June 29 2010 15:19 Pineapple wrote: This is actually something I've thought long and hard about. There is a shortage of organ donors in my country and apparently the risk is actually very negligible - I can't remember the exact statistic but comparitively there was like a greater risk of dying from falling off a horse when you go riding than this.
Would I jump in front of a train to try rescue someone who was about to get hit? Probably. But for some reason organ donation just seems a whole lot scarier. I guess there haven't been many mainstream macho action movies based on heroes giving their organs to save people to make it seem cool enough.
The risk isn't negligible. I read something about 0.3% death ratio and up to 25% chances of complications.
On June 29 2010 14:05 Warrior Madness wrote: If he (or other people) really believes that he would give away part of his liver to some random person, he can probably set something up with some sort of charitable organization tommorow. There are thousands of people on a long waiting list, waiting for donors of various organs.
I would not. I highly doubt most people would give away their livers partially to other people. Especially the ones who say they would. Because well, then why haven't you done so already? Got lots of homework tonight? Got a date tommorow? Working extra shifts tommorow night? Yeah...
EPT
