Oh, I'm Sorry. Were You Still Using That Liver?

Via The Daley Gator:

Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.

Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.

I came across this story earlier at work and to put it mildly, the ensuing discussion with my co-workers degenerated in to a "snicklefest" pretty quickly. Example: I was voted as the person least likely to have their liver harvested. I have no idea what they were alluding to but I'll drink to the honor proudly and profusely.

Now, I think Sunstein is a raving nut boy with a bit of "I know better than you" fascist tendencies stirred in for good measure. I have a problem on principal with anyone who believes that the government has the right to "nudge" me to do what some group of busybodies has decreed to be "good" or "necessary" or whatever is fashionable for busybodies at any given moment. That being said, my driver's license notes that I have agreed to donate my organs at the time of my passing. My family is aware of my decision, as I am of their's.

Listening to people in the Obama administration, you would think that families like mine are a rarity and if not for the government none of us would know what the other's wishes are. Maybe we are an oddity, I don't know, but I was always raised to believe that if you've been born, sooner or later you're going to die. My parents have always talked openly with me on such matters, as I have with my own children.

Being open with each other doesn't take all the guesswork out in every situation, but it does provide each of us with a strong basis for decision making if we find ourselves in a situation where decisions have to be made. In other words, back off Mr. Government with a Capitol G man, we have it covered.

Instapundit has a video that illustrates organ donation under the "Sunstein Plan". The accents are slightly off, but think of it as UK medicine for the ObamaCare masses: