Social Media powerhouse Facebook has made yet another change to their new Timeline. This time however the added feature could have redeeming qualities unlike other changes such as the addition of the Ticker. The newest feature from Facebook to see the light of day is known as Organ Donor. Ready to give your organs up for those in need? Now you can share your readiness to do so with the world!
While Mark Zuckerberg is credited with many tweaks to the Facebook platform, this feature could actually be partially credited to Zuckerberg’s girlfriend, a med school student who understands the severe shortage of donor organs and how it affects the world population. The thinking behind adding Organ Donor to the Facebook Timeline is that it could potentially help address this shortage.
Anyone wanting to share their organ donor status can do so quite easily. Simply go to the Timeline view, click “Life Event,” then “Health & Wellness.” Finally, click on the “Organ Donor” option. Want to add the date and the location when and where you registered? It offers you both of these options. Have you made the decision to be an organ donor but haven’t notified your state donor registry? No worries, there is an app for that! Facebook’s organ donor registry app will direct you to your respective state’s registry.
The following has appeared on the official Facebook sharing Organ Donor status page:
“More than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more around the globe, are waiting for the heart, kidney or liver transplant that will save their lives. Many of those people – an average of 18 people per day – will die waiting, because there simply aren’t enough organ donors to meet the need. Medical experts believe that broader awareness about organ donation could go a long way toward solving this crisis.”
Taken at face value, this could be a huge move by the social media giant toward addressing the shortage of donor organs. On the other hand, the potential for abuse does exist. What happens when a healthcare provider accesses someone’s Facebook info, finds out that the individual considers themselves to be an organ donor, leading to a decision to be less than diligent in insuring proper health care procedures so that organs can be harvested?
Making the decision to be an organ donor is a tough one. It is also very personal. Whether or not Facebook’s new Organ Donor feature will be helpful or harmful is something that may take time to determine. Keep in mind that if you do wish to keep your decision from being part of public consumption, you can still decide to be an organ donor. You would simply contact your state registry and handle it directly rather than by going through an app such as Facebook’s Organ Donor feature.