8mm
Posted on 10/10/2006 4:11:01 PM PDT by wagglebee
TORONTO, October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A doctor and assistant professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Calgary is warning that a change in the rules defining death for purposes of organ donations could place patients in danger and ICU doctors in a conflict of interest.
Dr. Christopher Doig, director of the intensive care unit at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre, wrote in an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that allowing organs to be removed from patients after cardiac arrest could place vulnerable patients at risk.
Currently Canada relies upon the “brain death” criterion to retrieve organs from patients. which definition is itself ambiguous and a source of much controversy. “We need to put the brake on things,” Dr. Doig said.
Even with medical ethicists attempting to sound a warning that what is called brain death is not always actual death, the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation is pushing for hospitals around the country to adopt the cardiac definition of death (DCD) to make more organs available for transplant.
The push for a change has strengthened since the announcement in June this year that the Ottawa Hospital would adopt the so-called non-heart beating criterion for organ donation (NHBD). Many ethicists have warned that the adoption of the new criterion would end by doctors killing patients by removal of vital organs.
Under the new rules at Ottawa Hospital, organs can be removed from patients five minutes after the heart has stopped beating.
Dr. Doig was on the forum convened last year to study how the new cardiac criterion can be implemented in Canada. The group has published their conclusions today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and Dr. Doig has published an editorial in the same issue calling for a pause to re-think.
Dr. Doig, who has resigned from the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, says he does not endorse the report and that he “cannot support proceeding” with the DCD criterion.
“DCD may represent an additional source of organs; however, DCD is a major change in end-of-life practice and poses significant ethical problems for end-of-life decision-making,” Doig writes.
Doig’s warning confirms that of other ethicists who say that the DCD criterion could result in critically ill patients being regarded merely as potential organ farms.
Cardiac arrest following withdrawal of treatment in the ICU, he says, is known as "controlled DCD,” in which methods to preserve organ viability are initiated before the donor's death. The patient’s death can be “timed” to coincide with availability of organ transplant surgical teams.
“With DCD a patient must be considered a potential donor before their death,” he writes. “Therefore, there is an inherent conflict of interest for physicians caring for these and other individuals in the ICU who might also be candidates for controlled DCD.”
Dr. Doig told the National Post today that the change in criterion could exacerbate the already “profane” death of the ICU patient. Dr. Doig said, “Patients will die in a sterile operating room. When the heart stops, the clock starts ticking.
"Before he dies, there will be surgeons gowned, gloved, caped and masked, standing outside the door, clock-watching."
Read the full text of Dr. Doig’s editorial:
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/8/905?ijkey=5f9393e9...
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Controversial Organ Donation Method Begins in Canada - Organs Extracted 5 Minutes after Heart Stops
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06062707.html
If the Culture of Death has its way, they will soon expand the criteria of when they can start harvesting a person's organs.
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***Currently Canada relies upon the “brain death” criterion to retrieve organs from patients***
Al Gore better stay out of Canada . He has been brain dead foe years , a trip to Canada could leave him an empty hulk.
I bet quite a number of Liberal Party MP's would meet the criteria.
Patients are already considereed potential donors before their deaths.
A massive refusal of people to donate would be bad for those who need organs, but maybe it would make the OR ghouls think again.
I just renewed my license the other week and removed Organ Donor from my card.
These days since they are redefining life and also because of all the questions surrounding "when is a person really dead" I just don't want to line myself up to be one of those cases.
May seem cold to those awaiting organ transplants but they are no more worthy of life than the donor.
You are right. Up to the point of creating bodies with useful organs.
I guess we're ahead of our times for warning of the very same thing right here in the Terri Schiavo and pro-life threads. It isn't really fortune-telling, of course. The human chop shops are already functioning. We don't have to look deeply to see that money is a strong motive for carving people up for their organs. LOTS of money.
Is this tied to patient's wishes that there be no attempts to resuscitate after a heart stoppage. If it is, this is not a problem. If it isn't, BIIIIIIIG problem.
Transplant ping...
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Myth: If emergency room doctors know you're an organ donor, they won't work as hard to save you.
Fact: If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by a physician. Many states have adopted legislation allowing individuals to legally designate their wish to be a donor should brain death occur, although in many states Organ Procurement Organizations also require consent from the donor's family.
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Myth: When you're waiting for a transplant, your financial or celebrity status is as important as your medical status.
Fact: When you are on the transplant waiting list for a donor organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical information.
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Myth: Having "organ donor" noted on your driver's license or carrying a donor card is all you have to do to become a donor.
Fact: While a signed donor card and a driver's license with an "organ donor" designation are legal documents, organ and tissue donation is usually discussed with family members prior to the donation. To ensure that your family understands your wishes, it is important that you tell your family about your decision to donate LIFE.
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Myth: Only hearts, livers, and kidneys can be transplanted.
Fact: Needed organs include the heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver, and intestines. Tissue that can be donated include the eyes, skin, bone, heart valves and tendons.
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Myth: Your history of medical illness means your organs or tissues are unfit for donation.
Fact: At the time of death, the appropriate medical professionals will review your medical and social histories to determine whether or not you can be a donor. With recent advances in transplantation, many more people than ever before can be donors. It's best to tell your family your wishes and sign up to be an organ and tissue donor on your driver's license or an official donor document.
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Myth: You are too old to be a donor.
Fact: People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissue can be donated.
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Myth: If you agree to donate your organs, your family will be charged for the costs.
Fact: There is no cost to the donor's family or estate for organ and tissue donation. Funeral costs remain the responsibility of the family.
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Myth: Organ donation disfigures the body and changes the way it looks in a casket.
Fact: Donated organs are removed surgically, in a routine operation similar to gallbladder or appendix removal. Donation does not change the appearance of the body for the funeral service.
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Myth: Your religion prohibits organ donation.
Fact: All major organized religions approve of organ and tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.
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Myth: There is real danger of being heavily drugged, then waking to find you have had one kidney (or both) removed for a black market transplant.
Fact: This tale has been widely circulated over the Internet. There is absolutely no evidence of such activity ever occurring in the U.S. While the tale may sound credible, it has no basis in the reality of organ transplantation. Many people who hear the myth probably dismiss it, but it is possible that some believe it and decide against organ donation out of needless fear.
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