M
Michael_Mayo
Guest
I just read a Catholic physician’s perspective concluding that “the concept of “brain death,” that is, the declaration of the death of the person on neurologic criteria alone, to be invalid. In isolation from other corroborating findings, brain-based findings are insufficient to achieve moral certainty of the death of the person.”
and yet
Even the transplantation of human organs, for which the concept of brain death was invented, may not necessarily require such ethical gymnastics. Transplants from living donors of paired or multiple organs like the kidneys or the lobes of the liver pose little ethical difficulty. Even the transplantation of a heart from a living donor who is in the last moments of his life may in certain circumstances be ethically permissible. If the person is nearing death and resuscitation to further prolong his life is deemed inappropriate and morally dispensable, if spontaneous cardiac arrest has occurred, and if the appropriate consent has been obtained, might it be ethical to transplant the still living (not still beating) heart from his still living body? How could this be? Once the heart has spontaneously arrested, it is no longer a vital organ, i.e. it no longer performs its life-sustaining function. It remains a living organ, that is, it can be resuscitated and will resume its function in the recipient, but because it no longer serves its circulatory function in the dying donor, it is no longer a vital organ. Once it has arrested, it no longer maintains or prolongs the life of the donor. Removing it, therefore, does not cause the person’s death, a death that is fully anticipated and ethically permissible. In those few minutes between cardiac arrest and death, the transplantation of the non-vital (i.e. non-life-sustaining), non-beating, but still living heart is ethically and medically equivalent to the transplantation of a living kidney from a living donor. Thus even heart transplantation may be ethical without resorting to the fictions of either “cardiac death” or “brain death.” p. 41.
catholicscholars.org/FellowshipQuarterly
Im not sure yet but I think I agree.
and yet
Even the transplantation of human organs, for which the concept of brain death was invented, may not necessarily require such ethical gymnastics. Transplants from living donors of paired or multiple organs like the kidneys or the lobes of the liver pose little ethical difficulty. Even the transplantation of a heart from a living donor who is in the last moments of his life may in certain circumstances be ethically permissible. If the person is nearing death and resuscitation to further prolong his life is deemed inappropriate and morally dispensable, if spontaneous cardiac arrest has occurred, and if the appropriate consent has been obtained, might it be ethical to transplant the still living (not still beating) heart from his still living body? How could this be? Once the heart has spontaneously arrested, it is no longer a vital organ, i.e. it no longer performs its life-sustaining function. It remains a living organ, that is, it can be resuscitated and will resume its function in the recipient, but because it no longer serves its circulatory function in the dying donor, it is no longer a vital organ. Once it has arrested, it no longer maintains or prolongs the life of the donor. Removing it, therefore, does not cause the person’s death, a death that is fully anticipated and ethically permissible. In those few minutes between cardiac arrest and death, the transplantation of the non-vital (i.e. non-life-sustaining), non-beating, but still living heart is ethically and medically equivalent to the transplantation of a living kidney from a living donor. Thus even heart transplantation may be ethical without resorting to the fictions of either “cardiac death” or “brain death.” p. 41.
catholicscholars.org/FellowshipQuarterly
Im not sure yet but I think I agree.