The morality of organ donation

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The hysteria about organ donation does not take into account the fact that the doctor who will be working to save you or your loved one is not the same doctor who will be performing the organ transplant.

The emergency doctor, trauma doctor, surgeon or other physician who is trying to save the life of the injured or ill person has a vested interest in SAVING THAT LIFE, not in declaring the patient brain dead and available for organ donation.

Declaring his patient brain dead means that he failed to save a patient. That will always be in his record, whether there was anything he could do or not. Doctors like to have the best stats possible depending upon their speciality.

Also, if there is any hint that the doctor didn’t do everything possible to save the patient before declaring them brain dead, they open themselves up to massive malpractice suits.
 
I will need a heart transplant in the near future. This type of hysteria scares me. There are so few people willing to be donors as it is without the fear mongering that has been going on as of late.
 
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.
 
This is precisely why I have outlined to my next-of-kin what sort of safeguards I want in place before my organs would be harvested. If I were to be in state from which I could not recover but I could save someone’s life by donating a heart or kidneys or lungs or whatnot, I would want to do it…but only if I could not possibly recover consciousness.

I told my parents (currently my next of kin) that while I am willing to be an organ donor, I wish them to contact my priest, who I trust implicitly about such things, and ask him to recommend a Catholic physician who can look at my medical situation with a balanced eye. If such a physician says I can’t recover…then please have the priest anoint me, and let me go save a few lives. If that physician (presumably of good moral fiber, or my priest would not recommend him) has any doubts or thinks I might recover, then it doesn’t matter what any of the other staff say. Keep me on life support, thanksverymuch.

I don’t think that all ER or ICU staff and doctors would lie in order to harvest my organs, but I do think there’s a certain amount of brainwashing going on in some places, and so I want a physician with whom I would literally trust my life to make that decision for me.
 
I’m really amazed at the hysteria in the west about organ donation, and so a lot of organs are going to waste - as tactless as that may seem. The problem is then that people with money or access to it, and contacts are literally buying organs from poor countries like China and India. That’s where it becomes really morally questionable.

I’ve heard some real horror stories from collegues who saw things YEARS ago that were really dodgey, but things have changed now. Things are much mroe transparent, and with the public insanity over this, those involved in organ donation collection are very careful with what they do and how they do it.

I’ve told my family, if I’m in that situation, take whatever they want, I used to think not the eyes, not the skin, but then I saw the joy experienced by peopel who got their sight back from a cornea graft. I still say they can’t have any of my reproductive materials, but everything else is up for grabs!

If I’m truly Pro-Life I realised it would be hypocritical of me to take organs into the dirt that could save/help at least 8 people.
 
Cristiano said:
Are the organs (e.g. heart and liver) harvested only after the individual is dead? Does the heart have to be harvested while it is still beating? If that is true, is then the individual dead? Is it the same story for the liver?

This is an interesting link:
catholicmoralsguy.blogspot.com/2008/11/organ-donation-and-dead-donor-rule.html
Click to expand...
You cannot rationally define life by whether a heart is beating or not in the case of a brain dead individual whose organs are being mechanically maintained.
 
“Brain death” is not true death, never was, and never will be.

This is not an isolated case: catholicnewsagency.com/news/man_makes_miraculous_recovery_from_brain_death_after_accident/

From the first link in the OP,
Organ removal is performed while the patient is given only a
paralyzing agent but no anesthetic! Multi-organ excision, on the
average, takes three to four hours of operating during which time the
heart is beating, the blood pressure is normal and respiration is
occurring albeit the patient is on a ventilator. Each organ is cut out until
finally the beating heart is stopped, a moment before removal.
It is well documented the heart rate and blood pressure go up when
the incision is made. This is the very response the anesthesiologist
often observes in everyday surgery when the anesthetic is insufficient.
But, as stated above, organ donors are not anesthetized.
Click to expand...
From the second link in the OP,
True death is when the soul separates from the
body. When the person is living, the soul certainly has
not separated from the body. The heart, liver and
other vital organs are suitable for transplantation only
when there is circulation and respiration, albeit
supported by a ventilator. After true death the
ventilator cannot support circulation and respiration.
Vital organs from a corpse are useless for
transplantation. The Federal Government is much
involved with obtaining organs for transplantation.
Click to expand...
 
My understanding is that most medical professionals who are involved in harvesting donated organs do not sign donor agreements and are not willing to be organ donors themselves. Dismissing concerns about the morality of organ donation as “hysteria” doesn’t help advance the discussion of a complicated and delicate question.
 
I think focusing on the morality of the process as it occurs now is important since we know the theory of it may be sound. So I agree - this is not hysteria.

Currently, I am an organ donor. If/when the Pope and bishops change their tune, I will not be a donor. And yes, I will not accept any donations from an immoral procedure. Would that be hard/nearly impossible? Certainly, and I hope never to be put to the test!

As for now, I remain an organ donor. Since there is more study, I think it acceptable to go with the status quo.
 
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