I just saw this article on CNN about the Virginia Tech victims and how their families won an $11 million settlement.

The first thing that came to mind was how I've never really stopped to consider the possibility of those families getting money out of the situation. (Apparently, two families chose not to file claims)

The second thought was that I remembered that I have been meaning to do an article about the "price" or "cost of human life".

To some people, all life is "sacred" and "god" exists in everything. To others, most of the world is full of "haters" and "negativity" and still others deal with people on a case by case basis, some people being more valuable than others.

I was watching the Oprah show the other day about "medical miracles". The show covered a lot, including conjoined twins, the girl born with eight limbs (I call her "spidergirl") and organ donation. I had tuned in late, so I only got to see the part where they interviewed two families and their experiences with organ donation. It was really touching, and Dr. Oz, Oprah and all the families were strongly encouraging people to sign up to become organ donors.

Basically, as an organ donor, you would be agreeing to have any salvagable organs off of your body donated to somebody in need after you die. There are currently thousands of people waiting for a heart, a kidney, a lung, skin, eyes and many other body parts that they are lacking due to disease or injury, and one of the best resources for this is a freshly dead person.

Some myths about donating organs

• Doctors will try to take your organs before you're even dead, or not fight to keep you alive as much as someone for whom the incentive of harveting their organs does not exist. They say that in ancient times, it was very common to bury people before they were fully dead. Now, with more powerful medical equipment we have better ways of checking vital signs to know when a person is dead. In fact, Dr. Oz assures us that the doctors wait until you are good and dead before even the donation is made, and that in fact it is two separate medical teams that work on bring you back to life and removing your organs.
• People needing the organs will try to kill you and get your organs. Your organ donor status is completely anonymous.
• The people who receive the organs will be possessed by the ghost of the person the organs got donated from. Does that even sound plausible? The movie The Eye plays with the idea of "cell memory". It is starring Jessica Alba and is about a girl who receives the eye of someone who witnesses a murder (or something) and she starts having scary visions after receiving an eye implant (or something like that). For all I know, there are no scientifically acreditted cases of stuff like this happening.
• Planning for my death might make it come quicker. This is a little superstitious feeling that I get when I make plans for bad things to happen, it might make them come quicker. So, a person might feel like, if they agree to have their organs taken after they die, in order to save a life, then "god" might decide to "do his work" through them, because they have given "him" this opportunity...and then BOOM! early death. It almost feels like you're volunteering to die. But that is not true. Some people can sign up for organ donation, and live to be 100. This is only in the case that you do, die, this option will be available.

I do have a few questions, myself, about organ donation.

1. Can I sign up to be an organ donor online?
2. How do you donate your eyes? Aren't they attached to your sockets and wires and stuff? Is the vision completely restored in the recipient, or are the eyes just for display purposes?

3. You probably can't, but if you donated your brain (I mean, if the organ the doctors salvaged from your dead body was your brain) would your consciousness exist in another person's body?
4. On donating skin: Is there ever any interracial skin grafting done? What if I'm black was in a fire and the doctors were going to replace my skin, could I ask for white skin (like Micheal Jackson...lol...just kidding, of course)
5. And finally, do I, or my family receive any monetary compensation for the donations I have made (the way you get paid for donating eggs or sperm)?

If anyone has the answers to these questions, or has any information they would like to share about organ donation (perhaps a family member is an organ donor) or you have any strong opinions about the practice of organ donation (either postive or negative) feel free to share in the comments section.