Saturday, 24 November 2012

Donor Cards...

I used to be a firm believer in donor cards. I remember being quite angry that, on the death of my father, no one at the hospital believed my mother was in a fit state to consent to his organs being used. When his personal effects were returned, we found his donor card in his wallet.

Now, I am not so sure about the wisdom of carrying a card. The more I learn about hospital procedures, the more suspicious I become. When, exactly, is a person considered to be dead? And if, in order to allow organs to be harvested for transplant purposes before the heart has stopped beating, the diagnosis of "brain death" is accepted, then what exactly is "brain death"? And now we hear of cases where the donor has recovered just in time to stop having vital organs removed...

Tony Bland had to have opiates administered so that he wouldn't show distress when he was being starved and dehydrated to death. Now "dead" patients are having to be anaesthetised to stop them reacting to the pain of surgery to harvest their organs.

Coma, the book by Robin Cook about a health centre which purports to look after coma patients whilst secretly harvesting their organs for transplantation is beginning to appear prophetic...
on

4 comments:

  1. Ben Trovato4:15 pm

    Thanks, Mac: I don't think Ive ever had three plugs in one post before, let alone three plugs to three different posts.

    It's scary stuff, this donor business - seems so right and turns out to be... let us say, questionable...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mulier Fortis8:10 pm

    My pleasure, Ben. Excellent articles - I merely "joined the dots"!

    I nearly included a fourth article, but that was on the vegetative state, so not entirely relevant (well, not without much more work from me!!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Recusant10:33 pm

    It's so difficult...a family friend lived another 10 years as she was lucky enough to get a transplant when her liver failed suddenly. Those 10 years made a big difference to her children, who had their mother until they were 20 instead of 10. She used to celebrate a birthday on the anniversary of her transplant because God had given her another year of life.

    I am on the donor register because of her and there is nothing wrong in that, but now it turns out that I might inspire someone else to commit evil. What a mess!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anita Moore4:09 pm

    The Church defines death as the moment the soul departs the body. The idea that a body without a soul can be "kept alive by machines" or respond to any kind of "life-preserving" therapy is a materialist myth. No machines can substitute for the soul in animating the body.

    We got the concept of "brain death" because vital organs are no good for transplantation after death; therefore, a rationale had to be developed for getting them while the donors are still alive. But persons who have been declared "brain dead" respond to therapy, take nutrition, and sometimes recover consciousness, none of which can be done by corpses. Women who have been declared "brain dead" have even carried to term and delivered babies. The soul of a "brain-dead" person is still present, and therefore, that person is still alive -- until he is deprived of his vital organs.

    By the way, here is the story of a little boy in Pueblo, Colorado, who lived to be three years and 11 months old without a brain and without being hooked up to any machines -- he died on the Feast of All Saints.

    http://v-forvictory.blogspot.com/2012/11/more-on-travesty-of-brain-death.html

    ReplyDelete