ITN Vol 10; Issue 35, 2012

Organ donation tattoo

Shah-e-Tara Jasrotia, 64, from Delhi has given a whole new meaning to getting a tattoo. The faded green lettering, in Hindi, across her arm is a tattoo which she got done nearly 35 years ago. It says, 'After my death, I would like my eyes to be donated and my body given away for scientific study.'

“...Her tattoo signifies a personal decision she made after her father, a Gandhian freedom fighter from Gujarat, passed away in 1977 and her mother donated his eyes and body to Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi. “My parents had been progressive all along and my mother's decision moved me,” she says, “Organ donation is the best way to give back what you have taken from the world.” Jasrotia had a tough time herself when she decided to donate her husband's organs after he died in a road accident in West Delhi in 2003. While her children, who are doctors settled abroad, supported the idea of their late father's organs being put to use, her husband's family didn't want the body to be mutilated. But Jasrotia stayed firm and donated his eyes to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi...”