This is not a clear cut issue. Veganism and health is generally a case-by-case thing, particularly over the matter of more severe interventions.
Firstly, the fact the veganism generally improves the health this is one reason to keep away from the men in white coats
but then there is the fact that vegans tend to be more aware of natural methods of healing, if they do have minor ailments.
Secondly, a GP can be made aware of one's veganism when prescribing medications. Often there are options that are not gelatinous or containing lactose as a stabiliser. But then there is also the issue that almost all medications are, at some point, tested on animals and other humans - though at least humans can give their consent.
As to the rest, I think it is generally accepted in the vegan community that there is no standard approach - that people have different opinions. Indeed the UK Vegan Society backs this stance (
choose for yourselves, but be educated is basically what they say - I'm bastardising it though). For instance, I weigh the benefits of non-vegan medicine on a case by case issue. I do take my inoculations regardless of the fact that they are cultured in egg or pig cells - other vegans might not. I take them because we live in a world of violent strains of 'super viruses' and a huge issue with increasing urbanisation and immuno-contamination from the level of globalisation we now experience. For instance I was born with tuberculosis because my mother contracted it when she was pregnant and I almost did not survive (it came down to the wire) - tuberculosis can easily be avoided with a vaccination and so I would prefer to take that, and would have preferred she'd taken it too so that my first few months on this earth didn't need to have been such a battle. On the other hand if I've just got an earache and the option is a non-vegan one, then I would turn it down and suffer the ache!
Personally I am not a registered donor but this has got nothing to do with the fact that I am vegan, it's more that I don't feel like there is a divide between the spirit and the body. I would like to remain spiritually 'intact' upon my death, therefore I would not like to scatter my organs. So it's a personal belief issue, not a vegan one.
I would rather have thought that the greyer area would be
accepting donated organs/blood/tissues, not giving them. Many would say that the option of having those organs, sustaining life, considering the lives of our fellow man, is a very vegan concept. These donations are generally consensual or authorised by next-of-kin so I don't think they can be considered 'exploitation'. Whereas the vegan recipient may or may not want to receive these. For instance, I would certainly hesitate to accept blood knowing it most likely did not come from a fellow vegan however I'd have no issue accepting blood from a known vegan human being. This is because receiving blood from an omnivore rather feels like second hand smoking, to me, however this is my totally subjective opinion.
I have always thought that the greater issue is with certain governments that believe that the ownership of one's body after death largely falls back to the state. I.e. I would like to be able to refuse an autopsy or an exhumation, but there are no legal grounds to do so in the UK. I take great ethical issue with this - as morbid a thought as it is I think it is a real issue. It's an omnivorous mindset, really.
It's dead therefore we can do what we like. State-authorised autopsies or exhumations that go against the wish of the deceased is thoroughly 'un-vegan'.
But, to conclude, if you give your consent to any of these procedure - donation, autopsy, exhumation - then I do believe it's in keeping with veganism. After all we are concerned about animals because they can rarely convey their consent and, if they could, would certainly not say 'yes please do slaughter and eat me'. Whether or not a donor's body is 'butchered', ice-packed, or gone through any of the things you list it's not antithetical if it's their wish in order to serve medicine or save another life. That argument is a completely subjective one and you'd have to be fairly militant to say otherwise - which I respect but also caution against.
No, you cannot influence who the receiver is. But, again, you can knowingly consent to this. I don't think there's anything wrong with a vegan saving a non-vegan's life at all! It's probably what we are all doing every day just by keeping to a plant based diet - all that forestry, water, oxygen we are saving is also saving the lives of non-vegans. Vegan soldiers are more literally protecting the lives of a non-vegan majority. And as much as the poor practices of the meat and dairy industries can make us apathetic about our fellow man, I think it's important to be optimistic and protect the potential for man to willingly, consciously, evolve and self-regulate. Yes, it's a blind donation, but so is Christmas Shoeboxing. You know roughly your donation will go to someone who is needy, but you can't stipulate who or where. Does that mean you won't donate your shoebox? Does it mean you won't pay your taxes because you don't know which social project it will be put towards? OK, we
have to pay our taxes so maybe that's not the closest analogy but I hope it still serves in a lesser way.
You're 'only' a number in the system whether you're living as well. We all have passport numbers, mobile phone numbers, bank account numbers, driving license numbers, national insurance numbers... even as we are living we are defined by a series of numbers so I cannot think why this would bother a person more dead than it does when they are alive. If you are interested in this 'issue', you can read about being a
Freeman on the Land - which is a growing movement however still an unofficial one (i.e. not recognised by the state - maybe that's the point but it's rather considered as being 'pseudolegal'). But, even dead, you're probably going to be a person to somebody. Someone's sister/brother/mother/father or even as an animal's carer. Lord knows I've seen animals grieve for their owners. Few people truly leave this world as simply a 'number'.
In short, organ donation doesn't really come into veganism (in my opinion). The point is it's consensual.
Receiving these donations is left to the individual to decide. Vegan bodies such as the Vegan Society UK do not presume to stipulate about this - human to human donations are consensual. Veganism is concerned with life. We won't tell you not to receive a donation if your life is at stake, but we will respect your wish regardless because we generally
respect the autonomy of all living beings human or not.
A really interesting question!