Opt-Out Organ Donation

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Vonsalza

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Is there a “Catholic view” on opt-out organ donation laws where you’re assumed to be an organ donor unless you take certain specific actions to make it clear that you desire to not be?

Just curious.
 
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2296 Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2296.htm
 
TheLittleLady said:
2296 Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 2296
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Excellent, precise reply.

Follow up: is continued life support for the sole sake of keeping organs viable in the case of declared-medically-brain-dead individuals okay as well?
 
Yes and I remember reading that under no circumstance can the brain be donated.
 
TheLittleLady said:
It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent.
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Ultimately, do “opt-out” laws violate this requirement since your consent is assumed and you must explicitly give refusal?
 
There is no such directive that I have read, or, if you have a link to an obscure teaching document please link it.
 
I don’t have the link but it had to do with the brain being the personal identity of the person. You can imagine the implications: Person A’s brain going to Person B, who is that person now? still A or B? bioethically too problematic.
 
That is getting into fringe science. People used to believe the same thing about hearts and about livers. The brain is an organ, a very complex organ, but it is an organ.

The soul, what animantes the body, cannot be transplanted along with any organ.
 
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Soul Transplants are risky. Soul Rejection is painful.
 
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I have this as a patch for my jacket 🤓
 
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The parallel world season is still my favorite. I want blimps.
 
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One Day…
 
angel12 said:
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Vonsalza:
Ultimately, do “opt-out” laws violate this requirement since your consent is assumed and you must explicitly give refusal?
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By not refusing, haven’t you given consent?
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If it’s the publicly known law of the land, I think so. But folks like @TheLittleLady seem to disagree.

I have to confess, if being Catholic means that one shouldn’t support opt-out laws, that would be disappointing considering the good they appear to do.
 
Vonsalza said:
I have to confess, if being Catholic means that one shouldn’t support opt-out laws, that would be disappointing considering the good they appear to do.
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Agreed. There are far too few donors, and I think it’s at least partly because people just don’t even think about it. Opt-out laws would help tremendously.
 
For the record, I am repeating the information in the Catechism. My personal opinions don’t weigh in for matters of Faith & Morals.
 
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