Every year, nearly seven thousand of the people who are waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. die before they ever receive an organ. The sad truth is that the number of organs available for transplant is falling farther and farther behind the growing demand for organs. Most states permit or even encourage persons to make their wishes regarding organ donation known on their driver’s licenses. And yet, fewer than half of all adults have indicated that they would be willing to be an organ donor in the event of their untimely death.
In what some people see as a move from social networking into social engineering, Facebook announced last week that it would encourage its members to list their donor status on their Facebook pages. Experts in the field of organ donation are pleased. It’s one thing to decide in private to be an organ donor – its quite another to make a public statement by announcing it to all of your friends. The hope is that peer pressure will cause some of the 160 million Facebook members in the United States (and 900 million worldwide) to join the organ donation bandwagon, adding millions of persons to the potential organ donor pool.
I’d like to see that happen. Though I’m not a Facebooker, I am proud to be a a potential organ donor. How about you?
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