8mm
Posted on 09/03/2008 3:53:36 PM PDT by wagglebee
VATICAN, September 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Only a few weeks after a prominent article appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine noting that 'brain death' does not constitute true death, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has carried a front-page article noting that a declaration of 'brain death' cannot be considered the end of life in light of new scientific research.
Such a determination would prohibit single vital organ donation, such as heart transplants, for Catholics or Catholic institutions, since Catholic teaching requires such organ donors to be truly dead. If potential donors cannot be said with certainty to be dead, vital organ removal would in effect constitute killing the donor.
The L'Osservatore Romano editorial, published September 2, was written by Professor Lucetta Scaraffia, vice-president of the Italian Association for Science and Life and a member of the Italian National Committee on Bio-Ethics. She notes that the Vatican accepted the 'brain death' criteria 40 years ago when it was put forward by the Harvard Medical School. She notes that in 1985, 1989, and 2006, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences still maintained that brain death was "the true criterion for death."
However, Scaraffia added that the Church accepted the new definition of death "with many reservations," noting that "in Vatican City State the certification of brain death is not used."
Commenting on the L'Osservatore Romano article, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that it was "interesting and authoritative" but "cannot be considered a position of the Magisterium (teaching authority) of the church."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says on the subject of organ donation: "Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a expression of generous solidarity." The statement hinges on the establishment of true death of the donors. If not, complete removal of any vital organ would kill the 'donor.' Or, as Pope John Paul II put it in 2000, "Vital organs which occur singly in the body can be removed only after death, that is from the body of someone who is certainly dead . . . This requirement is self-evident, since to act otherwise would mean intentionally to cause the death of the donor in disposing of his organs."
For the general public, organ donation is becoming ever more controversial as accounts of patients declared "brain dead" and living to tell about it are reported more and more frequently. Scaraffia points, however, to new scientific findings as raising questions for scientists. One of the new findings she points out is the case of a woman declared brain dead who could still bring an unborn child to birth while on life support.
The issue is sure to come to a head in the Vatican in the coming weeks as a Vatican conference promoting organ donation is set to take place in Rome in November.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
New England Journal of Medicine: 'Brain Death' is not Death
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081406.html
Doctor Says about "Brain Dead" Man Saved from Organ Harvesting - "Brain Death is Never Really Death"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08032709.html
The culture of death is far more concerned with "spare parts" than they are with actual life.
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I don’t have a problem with someone getting my organs AFTER I’m dead, but I will NEVER sign a donor card.
The New England Journal of Medicine conducted their study at several poling places this spring. They discovered that a very high number of people who voted for Barack Obama showed little or no brain activity. Yet they were able to walk and say “It’s Bush’s fault!” which led the researches to conclude that their bodies might not be completely dead.
(Hey, it was only a matter of time before someone posted this!)
In Virginia you have to check a box.
This is a tough thing for sure. Up to now, MY whole body is to be planted.
PA does. My days as an official "organ donor" end when my license gets renewed in November.
I'd been thinking about it for a while, and this settles it.
And now the task of letting the rest of the world know... this should stir the pot a bit at my campus Students for Life meeting.
Frankly, the Church has been too ready to accept the statements of biased scientists on this matter.
Death is death. And most organs are “harvested” before the patient has died. That is why I would hesitate to be a donor—because doctors have divided loyalties, and may just kill you in order to harvest your organs for someone else whom they happen to like better, or know better, or maybe who to pay more.
It undermines the practice of medicine, IMHO, just as abortion and euthanasia do.
“The culture of death is far more concerned with “spare parts” than they are with actual life.”
There are many of us who agreed to the donation of organs based upon the declaration of brain death - with the guidance of the hospital priest.
If we had not donated, they simply would have removed them from the machines anyway.
Been saying this for a while.
Organ donations are very profitable. And there is a big push to ‘help along’ a possible donor.
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