Organ donation via Facebook viable initiative

The Stewart Houston Times

People are constantly bombarded with stories about the evils of the Internet and social media, and horrific stories do abound about child pornography, invasion of privacy, cyberbullying and identity theft, to name a few.

But the digital age also has brought with it some wonderful examples of people using technology for great purposes, to raise awareness about charitable events and important causes.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced a great initiative by offering a feature to make it easier for people to sign up to become organ donors. A link on the Facebook site connects to online donor registries. Tens of thousands of Facebook users already have enrolled, and the Facebook feature allows users to share their decision on the website. This unquestionably will cause more people to think through this idea and perhaps become a potential donor themselves.

Considering Facebook has tens of millions of daily users in this country alone, this has the potential to be a game-changer in the quest to help people on waiting lists for transplants of kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs.

Last year, more than 6,600 Americans died waiting for an organ, and about 114,000 are on waiting lists.