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To: metmom
>> What better source of a nice fresh *commodity*. Sick.

Er... sounds like you get the picture :-) Yes, the commodity must be fresh. Most big hospitals nowadays have a surgical team on call 24/7 in case they get a brain-dead patient or a very, very fresh cadaver. Organ transplants do save lives and we can't argue much with this. Trouble is, the demand for the organs is so great and their value so high, there is a constant temptation to cut corners and ignore moral niceties. Patients' conditions (like Haleigh's) may be portrayed as worse than they are, in order to harvest organs. Iow, chop them up fast and never mind if the patient was really "dead." Keep in mind that there is still controversy in the medical profession whether "brain dead" is even dead.

For the record, the original conditions for "brain death" were pretty strict. The brain stem had to be gone (too), so the patient would die without a ventilator. Patients who can breathe without life support are NOT brain dead -- for a surprising example, Karen Ann Quinlan. Terri Schiavo wasn't brain dead, of course, though she was called that all the time in the media. Terri wasn't on any kind of life support as people understand the term.

The once-strict "brain death" conditions have tended to get loosened over the years, in the face of demand for organs for transplant.

28 posted on 09/05/2006 4:23:39 PM PDT by T'wit (It is not possible to "go too far" criticizing liberals. No matter what you say, they're worse.)
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To: T'wit
"The once-strict "brain death" conditions have tended to get loosened over the years, in the face of demand for organs for transplant."

Which is why I am no longer a "registered organ donor".
In regaining my Florida drivers license, I elected to "opt out" of "organ donation".
One must now purposely and specifically "opt out" of organ donation, as it is now assumed one is "willingly donating" of their own conscious volition if they do not knowingly select the official "opt out" clause.

How far we have fallen...down that slippery medical/ethical slope.


BTW, the individual who holds my medical power of attorney knows full well I have no religious beliefs that would preclude any and all organ donations, and that it is my wish that any and every organ that would help another to live is expected to be made freely available to competent medical practicioners in the event of my actual death. But I will not be "harvested" before my time...
29 posted on 09/05/2006 6:21:34 PM PDT by sarasmom (Lead, follow, or get out of the way .The "debate" ended on 91101 for serious adults.)
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To: T'wit

Strict brain death seems like the best definition of dead to me. If there is no mind (ah but what does that mean?)and the brain can't maintain breathing or BP, you're gone. But I ask this, do you know if measurable electical activity ever drops to absolute zero? In other words, is there ever an objective measurement of death? Of is it, as uncomfortable as it may be to admit, almost always a QUALITATIVE judgement? Is it, rather than a neat boolean on/off, dead/alive, yes/no, instead a continuum of functionality? Where we easily recognize the fat spot right in the middle, but have problems with the edges or boundaries?


763 posted on 09/25/2006 6:22:22 AM PDT by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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