I would say "I don´t want that liver if it was taken from a man who may have been conscious but was unable to tell anyone, and who may not have been given anaesthetic, so spent his last few moments of his life in torturous pain and effectively was killed so that I could live".

Further to the discussion, an interesting article on "locked in" syndrome:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8378262.stm

 In that case... no liver for you! Can you really be sure, at any time, if somebody shows no reaction to pain stimuli, has no way to interact, and has wide, non-responsive pupils? People who are declared brain-dead could all be locked in like that Belgian man.

+++   good for you.......I think this is called "walking the walk". 

And I wouldn´t mind having my organs taken if I were in coma for a long time. Pain? So what? I´d rather die than be in a vegetative state. And I definitely would not turn down an organ that could save my son´s life. I´d get one for him even if I had to kill somebody for it. Sorry.

Yes, mothers are famous for what they would do for their children.  However, the one whose organs you are thinking about taking are the child of someone, and they may be the parent of someone else...........and don´t forget they may only be paralyzed....not in a vegetative state....they may be fully conscious, but unable to communicate............and they may very well feel.

read the article Aenigma posted the link to

´A brain scan finally revealed Houben was conscious

A Belgian man who doctors thought was in a coma for 23 years was conscious all along, it has been revealed.

Medical staff believed Rom Houben had sunk irretrievably into a coma after he was injured in a car crash in 1983.

The University of Liege doctor who discovered in 2006 that, although Mr Houben was paralysed, his brain was working, said the case was not unique.

Mr Houben said that at first he felt angry at his powerlessness, but eventually learned to live with it´

I hope she was drunk when she said that!! Otherwise, obviously no sort of motherly obsession justifies that..

Me too. Organ donor, bone marrow donor and in the past blood donor. When I´m dead or in a vegetative coma it´s the only thing I can help others with. Must say I wonder if those who say ´I don´t want it´ really keep saying that when the decision is there. I hope for all of them that time never comes but I doubt they refuse.

 I think you missed the point.  My family are all aware that when I die they can do what the hell they like with my body - donate whatever organs can help save somebody.  However, if I am in "a coma" they may not donate organs unless they can definiately say I am brain dead.  The point I am making making is mistakes are made in diagnosis of brain death.  People have been operated on to remove organs while conscieous of what is going on and then die. Also, who is to say that someone who is paralised, but able to communicate by computer, should not be allowed to live their life and instead be an organ doner to someone more "worthy"? This is the point I am making, which clearly you missed.

In addition, there is a sinister side to Doner Cards which is taboo and never discussed openly....

I was not drunk. I really believe in what I´m saying. A pararel situation would be if I was to decide whether my child dies or somebody else´s. There´s no way I would chose another person´s child over mine. It´s similar with organ transplants.