Great article on patients ready for organ donations who weren't dead and survived! See it here and don't miss the long list of related articles at the end.
The Pope being an organ donor for many years is good enough for me. I'm pretty sure (then) Cardinal Ratzinger delved into the moral complexities of the issue. Organ donation is a gift that saves lives. And yes, sometimes brain dead is really brain dead. I picked up on your site in an effort to better understand the thoughts of other catholics and I welcomed the dialogue. It's become rather sensationalist. I think I'll move on. God bless.
Did you listen to the sermon, AnnMarie? It isn't sensational at all. It points out that the language has been changed, not because the true definition of death has changed, but because the medical profession wanted to justify taking vital organs from still living patients.
Vital organs are useless when taken from cadavers, i.e., those who are truly dead -- cold, blue, and stiff. When a body is warm, pink, able to digest food, grow, urinate and have bowel movements, nurture an unborn baby, etc. is it right to call the person dead?
Being an organ donor used to mean leaving your corneas for transplant which is certainly morally licit. Killing someone by taking a vital organ is something completely different. Semantic gymnastics was required to justify killing unborn children for convenience, now it's being used to kill to harvest a person's organs. And there is lots of money in it!
BTW, do you think every decision a pope makes is infallible?
I have known this for a long time since the American Life League has put out such articles for some years now. I have always thought, too, that there was something macabre in waiting around for someone else to die to get his or her body parts. I remember years ago reading in my local newspaper how a woman in a Latin American country sent her child to the hospital to have his tonsils taken out. He came back with no eyes. It seems the hospital sold the poorer child's eyes to some rich person. There were no laws in that country at that time protecting poorer people against such a crime. After reading all that I tore up my donation card on the back of my driver's license. People can donate if they want, but if the government decides to get rid of the conscience clause for doctors and healthcare workers beware.
For an interesting sermon on the moral licity of organ donation go to http://www.audiosancto.org/sermon/20101114-May-We-Donate-Our-Organs.html
ReplyDeleteThe Pope being an organ donor for many years is good enough for me. I'm pretty sure (then) Cardinal Ratzinger delved into the moral complexities of the issue. Organ donation is a gift that saves lives. And yes, sometimes brain dead is really brain dead. I picked up on your site in an effort to better understand the thoughts of other catholics and I welcomed the dialogue. It's become rather sensationalist. I think I'll move on. God bless.
ReplyDeleteDid you listen to the sermon, AnnMarie? It isn't sensational at all. It points out that the language has been changed, not because the true definition of death has changed, but because the medical profession wanted to justify taking vital organs from still living patients.
ReplyDeleteVital organs are useless when taken from cadavers, i.e., those who are truly dead -- cold, blue, and stiff. When a body is warm, pink, able to digest food, grow, urinate and have bowel movements, nurture an unborn baby, etc. is it right to call the person dead?
Being an organ donor used to mean leaving your corneas for transplant which is certainly morally licit. Killing someone by taking a vital organ is something completely different. Semantic gymnastics was required to justify killing unborn children for convenience, now it's being used to kill to harvest a person's organs. And there is lots of money in it!
BTW, do you think every decision a pope makes is infallible?
I have known this for a long time since the American Life League has put out such articles for some years now. I have always thought, too, that there was something macabre in waiting around for someone else to die to get his or her body parts. I remember years ago reading in my local newspaper how a woman in a Latin American country sent her child to the hospital to have his tonsils taken out. He came back with no eyes. It seems the hospital sold the poorer child's eyes to some rich person. There were no laws in that country at that time protecting poorer people against such a crime. After reading all that I tore up my donation card on the back of my driver's license. People can donate if they want, but if the government decides to get rid of the conscience clause for doctors and healthcare workers beware.
ReplyDelete