Organ donation

[Luvtosew]

So what does the RCC think about organ donation to save a life, like heart and kidney, is that interferring in God’s plan? I can’t imagine it would be a sin, but I don’t know, is it morally ethical, I’m also interested in your personal opinion. I keep flip flopping on this.

 

[Polycarp1]

Pope John Paul II sums up the position of the Church in these words:

[T]he Gospel of life is to be celebrated above all in daily living, which should be filled with self-giving love for others. . . . Over and above such outstanding moments, there is an everyday heroism, made up of gestures of sharing, big or small, which build up an authentic culture of life. A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope (Evangelium Vitae, no. 86, original emphasis).

 

[Cristiano]

The problem is not with donating organs once you are dead, the problem is with harvesting organs while you are still alive. That would be choosing to kill somebody in order to save someone else and it is immoral.

 

[NM_Native]

Please do your homework on organ donation. Not all require the death of an individual. Livers can be bisected and the donor keeps part of their liver while the transplanted liver lives and grows in the new body. Also kidneys can be transplanted because we don’t necessarily need 2 kidneys to be healthy. It’s not always the case, but often is. I received my lifesaving kidney transplant from my amazing sister. Not only did we WALK out of the hospital after 3 days, we are both healthy and life-filled parents to our own families 8 years after the surgery.

A true Catholic would never ask/expect an organ donation from a living person if it meant the death of the donor…that’s murder. After talking to my priest, we believe Blessed JPII was referring to non threatening organs from donors and that it’s in line with Church teaching to say yes to organ donation on things such as you’re driver’s license.

NM NATIVE

 

[NM_Native]

Please do your homework on organ donation. Not all require the death of an individual. Livers can be bisected and the donor keeps part of their liver while the transplanted liver lives and grows in the new body. Also kidneys can be transplanted because we don’t necessarily need 2 kidneys to be healthy. It’s not always the case, but often is. I received my lifesaving kidney transplant from my amazing sister. Not only did we WALK out of the hospital after 3 days, we are both healthy and life-filled parents to our own families 8 years after the surgery.

A true Catholic would never ask/expect an organ donation from a living person if it meant the death of the donor…that’s murder. After talking to my priest, we believe Blessed JPII was referring to non threatening organs from donors and that it’s in line with Church teaching to say yes to organ donation on things such as you’re driver’s license.

NM NATIVE

 

[Cristiano]

… it’s in line with Church teaching to say yes to organ donation on things such as you’re driver’s license.

NM NATIVE

I think that kidney and liver transplants take a lot of courage and love on the donor’s side and they make sense, bone marrow donation is another very useful procedure when possible. I am glad that you and your sister can share that extra bond. Your suggestion of talking to a priest is a very good idea especially if people are not comfortable with some aspects or risks of transplants like kidneys.

I disagree with your last statement. Saying yes to organ donation on your driver license does not imply an alignment with Church teachings. It simply says that the doctors can harvest the organs when they deem it appropriate and in some cases that could imply the killing of the patient.

 

[revert_jen]

A true Catholic would never ask/expect an organ donation from a living person if it meant the death of the donor…that’s murder. After talking to my priest, we believe Blessed JPII was referring to non threatening organs from donors and that it’s in line with Church teaching to say yes to organ donation on things such as you’re driver’s license.

I think that the poster was not referring to that sort of situation, but the problem where sometimes people are near death, but not actually dead, and organs are harvested from them prematurely. I have no personal knowledge of whether/how often this happens, but certainly there have been stories where medicine has considered the person “dead” before the Church would agree.

God bless you and your sister and may you both live long and healthy lives!

–Jen

 

[Luvtosew]

Please do your homework on organ donation. Not all require the death of an individual. Livers can be bisected and the donor keeps part of their liver while the transplanted liver lives and grows in the new body. Also kidneys can be transplanted because we don’t necessarily need 2 kidneys to be healthy. It’s not always the case, but often is. I received my lifesaving kidney transplant from my amazing sister. Not only did we WALK out of the hospital after 3 days, we are both healthy and life-filled parents to our own families 8 years after the surgery.

A true Catholic would never ask/expect an organ donation from a living person if it meant the death of the donor…that’s murder. After talking to my priest, we believe Blessed JPII was referring to non threatening organs from donors and that it’s in line with Church teaching to say yes to organ donation on things such as you’re driver’s license.

NM NATIVE

Wow that is so wonderful your sister gave (was able to) give you a kidney. Its amazing yous left the hosp in 3 days. I do know we only need one kidney, I’m so happy for your both. I guess God would not of given the doctors the gift to do this is he didn’t want it to be done. Thank you for your wonderful story.

 

[NM_Native]

Thank you all for the kind words. I truly am blessed to have the family that i do.

I’m sure there are times when medicine declares the person “dead” when the church does not. That’s where having a priest there for last rights could help avoid that type of situation.
My personal opinion is being an organ donor on dl and such forms goes with being open to life, not just with between husband and wife. Too many people get their medical information from watching the tv, or wikipedia.

God Bless,

NM NATIVE

 

[Luvtosew]

Anyone see that movie “My Sisters Keeper” I think Cameron Diaz was in it and they had a child just so their first dtr would have a donor from the biblical cord because I think she had leukemia and no one else in the family was capatable. I wont say much more, as not to ruin it for anyone but it was really good.

also there was that movie “Seven” will Will Smith and he kills seven people in an accident and won’t say much more there either.

but they are saving blood from the cord now for future need and freezing it. I think in the 2050 people will be living to 100-120, with all the advances and more people are not smoking now days,

 

[Cristiano]

…Too many people get their medical information from watching the tv, …

I can attest that after watching 11 years of MASH I consider myself a very experienced combat surgeon. I just do not understand why AMA disagrees with me.

BTW I also got my psychology training from watching the Bob Newhart show.

 

[Luvtosew]

I can attest that after watching 11 years of MASH I consider myself a very experienced combat surgeon. I just do not understand why AMA disagrees with me.

BTW I also got my psychology training from watching the Bob Newhart show.

Use to love the Bob Newhart show.

 

[NM_Native]

Yes. Those were real shows. They often saved several lives within the 30 min allotment. Shows nowadays take a whole hour to save one life.

 

[Luvtosew]

Yes. Those were real shows. They often saved several lives within the 30 min allotment. Shows nowadays take a whole hour to save one life.

like House, he usually saves the person in the last 10 mins after almost killing them for the first 50 mins.

 

[Richard320]

Does no one know about the various online catechisms?

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.

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm#2296

 

[DaveBj]

I am in favor of organ donation. I could use the donation of a Hammond B3 with a Leslie cabinet

 

[maryjk]

Thank you all for the kind words. I truly am blessed to have the family that i do.

**I’m sure there are times when medicine declares the person “dead” when the church does not. That’s where having a priest there for last rights could help avoid that type of situation. **

My personal opinion is being an organ donor on dl and such forms goes with being open to life, not just with between husband and wife. Too many people get their medical information from watching the tv, or wikipedia.

God Bless,

NM NATIVE

The priest can not and should not be the person that decides if you are dead or not. That is, unless he is a doctor.

He can and should come in BEFORE you are dead to perform Anointing of the Sick.

 

[Luvtosew]

The priest can not and should not be the person that decides if you are dead or not. That is, unless he is a doctor.

He can and should come in BEFORE you are dead to perform Anointing of the Sick.

Yes I do believe that the doctor is the one to deicide who is dead or not.

 

[Elisabethelisa]

The problem is not with donating organs once you are dead, the problem is with harvesting organs while you are still alive. That would be choosing to kill somebody in order to save someone else and it is immoral.

Sorry but I don’t understand. You don’t need to kill to give your kidney for instance. For sure there are certain “things” that can only be taken when people are dead but otherwise. Nowhere in the world it is allowed to kill someone to takes her or his organs.

 

[silicasandra]

Sorry but I don’t understand. You don’t need to kill to give your kidney for instance. For sure there are certain “things” that can only be taken when people are dead but otherwise. Nowhere in the world it is allowed to kill someone to takes her or his organs.

Unfortunately this does not seem to be accurate in all cases. Even in the US there is pressure placed on families of those on life support, etc. to stop medical care (including hydration and nutrition, which is NOT okay) so that a person’s organs may be harvested (or even just to free up a bed!) I’m on my phone so I can’t look this up easily, but there was also a recent news story about a DNR (do not resuscitate) being filed in a patient’s chart - I believe a child’s - without notification or consent of the parents.

This doesn’t even get into the moral and ethical issues surrounding how and when a person is actually declared to be dead! But other posters here are more knowledgeable about that.

(Think about it this way. Oral contraceptives work in two ways: by suppressing ovulation, and by making the uterus inhospitable to an embryo in case of breakthrough ovulation and then fertilization. So the embryo dies - a very early abortion. But medical literature by the manufacturers of these drugs get around admitting that their drugs could cause abortion by defining pregnancy as beginning at implantation rather than fertilization. So they claim their drugs “can’t” kill babies - but that’s actually part of how they’re designed to work. So if you simply change the definition of dead, and then harvest a person’s vital organs, you’ve just killed a person to get his organs.)