Posted on 03/04/2009 4:30:31 PM PST by BykrBayb
The parents of an 18-year-old Ohio man who suffered a brain injury while snowboarding claim in a lawsuit that doctors at a northwestern Pennsylvania hospital intentionally killed him so they could harvest his organs.
The lawsuit claims that Hamot Medical Center doctors and a representative of the Center For Organ Recovery and Education caused Gregory Jacobs' death by administering medication and by removing his breathing tube, causing him to suffocate.
"But for the intentional trauma or asphyxiation of Gregory Jacobs, he would have lived, or, at the very least, his life would have been prolonged," the lawsuit said.
The suit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh by Jacobs' parents, Michael and Teresa Jacobs, of Bellevue, Ohio. It seeks more than $5 million for their son's pain and suffering, medical bills and funeral expenses, plus punitive damages.
Lucia Conti, a Hamot spokeswoman, said the hospital had not seen the lawsuit, but its policy is to not comment on litigation. The Center for Organ Recovery and Education, a Pittsburgh-based organization that helps hospitals procure donated tissue, also declined to comment.
Jacobs fell on March 8, 2007, while snowboarding at Peek 'n Peak Ski Resort in Findley Lake, N.Y., and was flown to the Erie hospital, the lawsuit said.
The suit claims Hamot contacted the Center for Organ Recovery and Education about the donation of Jacob's organs even though his parents, who were at the hospital, wanted him to live. CORE directed that Jacob's organs be removed in the absence of a valid consent, the suit said.
"Gregory was alive before defendants started surgery and suffocated him in order to harvest his organs" including his heart, liver and kidneys, according to the suit.
The suit said Jacobs "experienced neither a cessation of cardiac activity nor a cessation of brain activities when surgeons began the procedures for removing his vital organs."
The suit said the Center for Organ Recovery and Education benefited by obtaining Jacob's organs "for transfer and sale to other individuals, who then paid money, a portion of which went to CORE, for the wrongful procurement of the organs."
People are surprised when, in executing my will or getting a driver's license, I refuse. It's odd how so many don't even think of this sort of thing. But with more suits like this, there will be more awareness (perhaps).
Ironically and sadly, the state of medical ethics today works against laudable goals like organ donation.
This is a different question.
Does someone in a vegetative state have the right to donate their organs?
You are posting under two false assumptions.
I guess my advice to people who engage in extreme sports would be to make sure they have some sort of document on file to keep from becoming Mom and Dad's little stuffed cabbage patch doll in the corner if something happens.
After browbeating me for several posts about what you claim I believe, you deny it, even though the posts are still there, but you think I’m nuts for noticing. You must be one of those FReepers JR was talking about when he said he keeps some around for entertainment value, even though they oppose the values he’s promoting.
Nothing like exposing the ugliness of your mind for all the world to see. Now that we know your opinion of disabled people, are there any other groups of people you’d like to discuss? Maybe you’d like to tell us your pet names for various races of people? Any other people you think are less than human based on their physical characteristics?
You should be careful where you draw the line. Under your own arbitrary criteria, you’re already below the threshold.
I tried to explain that I was NOT talking about YOU or your beliefs but speaking of people in general. Apparently you don't understand that I was NOT thinking about you, much less attacking you! If you want to continue to believe that, that's your perogative.
Frankly, I think this entire mess is bizarre and now I think you are a full-blown paranoid!
I truly hope you find some peace. I will not read yours or post to you again.
Bye-bye!
Yep, you’re the entertainment.
“We’re ere for your liver.”
“But, I’m still using it.”
“Is this your signature?”
“Yes, but..”
“You signed the card.”
“But, I’m STILL USING IT!”
/monty-python
Mom and dad having issues (who would not?) is not the issue. The issue is the hospital doing this without anyone’s consent. It is the principle, it is the precedent.
If this becomes normal, they will just stop trying to save anyone (even if you can recover) because of costs, and then you’re a spare parts bag. With Obama’s cost/benefit formulas, they will all say it’s not worth it and will carve you up like a damn turkey. They will pass an ‘implied consent’ rule that assumes you will donate unless they know otherwise.
Though there are no implied consent laws when it comes to depriving a patient of life support or even food and water, there is often a practice of implied consent. It used to be assumed that patients wanted to exercise their God given rights, unless they filed a legal document to the contrary. Now, it’s assumed that patients wish to relinquish their rights, unless they file a legal document specifically requesting their rights. And sometimes even that’s not enough.
The key word here is that the SUIT says that he still had brain activity. Where is the proof? I guess we’ll see that when it goes to trial.
I personally am skeptical of such accusations made by an ambulance chaser.
As for cessation of cardiac activity, that is still needed to perfuse the organs so that they can be USED for transplant. It is independent of whether he suffered brain death.
They’ll have to take my organs out of my cold, dead hands!
Re-read my post. I asked you a question; I did not make an accusation.
You need to chill out. Posting based strictly on emotion makes you look like a fool.
What are you babbling about? You asked me a question, and I answered it. You asked me if I had something which I had clearly not said. So after I answered your question, I added a comment about the subject of the statement you were asking about.
You know, it gets tiresome when FReepers keep retracting their own statements. There’s a rash of that behavior on this thread by freepers supporting murder and organ theft. If you really believe what you’re saying, don’t try backing away from your own statements.
Oops, missed a word.
You asked me if I had said something which I had clearly not said.
Oh, to be so self-righteous....
What are you babbling about now?
How many of your fellow FReepers have you alienated on this one thread? Some of the best that I’ve known. Add my name to them.
Oh please. We’ve been a thorn in each others’ sides since each of us started here. I’ve been pro-life the whole time, refusing to back down. Some of them have pulled some pretty nasty tricks, like signing up at another site under my name and saying disgusting things pretending to be me. One of them admitted it, was banned from here, and after a couple years was allowed to come back. So let’s not pretend that this is all something new. Yeah, I know that I alienate some people by being entirely too honest. Cry me a river.
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