‘Cardiac Death’ Allows One to Kill the Organ Donor

LifeSiteNews ^ | 7/10/09 | Dr. John Shea MD FRCP

[wagglebee]

Analysis by Dr. John Shea MD FRCP(C), Medical Advisor to LifeSiteNews.com

July 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In 2006, research done by Dr. Gerald Buckberg, a cardio-thoracic surgeon and UCLA expert, demonstrated that a person can survive cardiac arrest for an average of 72 minutes if they are given the following treatment: cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, the use of a heart-lung machine to keep blood and oxygen circulating, and gradual restoration of blood and oxygen flow.

This research was done at hospitals in Alabama and Ann Arbor, Michigan and also in Germany. Of 34 patients, seven died, only two had permanent neurological changes and 25 recovered completely. One patient had been in cardiac arrest for two and a half days. Similar results were obtained by research in Japan, Taiwan, and elsewhere in Asia.

In 1997, the Pittsburgh Protocol declared that cardiac arrest lasting two to five minutes causes 'cardiac death' and that it is ethically acceptable to remove vital organs for transplantation if a person is in cardiac arrest. The evidence provided by Dr. Buckberg and others directly contradicts this. Cardiac death was accepted according to the Pittsburgh Protocol with fanfare and approbation in Canada on January 27, 2006.

In December, 2002, Drs. M.L. Weisfeldt and L. Becker demonstrated that resuscitation was possible up to 15 minutes after cardiac arrest. It is now clear that the use of cardiac arrest as a criterion of death is no longer tenable. Will Dr. Buckberg's research be ignored by bioethicists, hospitals, and physicians as was Dr. Weisfeldt's work or will the hunt for transplant organs continue its inexorable course, as usual?

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Organ Donation after Cardiac Death a Danger to Critical Patients ~ Medical Professor
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06101008.html

New England Journal of Medicine: 'Brain Death' is not Death - Organ Donors are Alive
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081406.html

More Hospitals/Governments Push For Organ Transplants 5 Minutes or Less After Heart Stops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080808.html

Controversial Organ Donation Method Begins in Canada - Organs Extracted 5 Minutes after Heart Stops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062707.html

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[BykrBayb]

Well that sounds like A Modest Proposal.

[wagglebee]

Not nearly as much as this thread:

Use Aborted Children to Make up Shortfall of Transplant Organs: Oxford Stem Cell Expert

Unfortunately, Jonathan Swift gave society too much credit when he assumed that people would recognize that "A Modest Proposal" was SATIRE and not a "how-to" guide.

[bboop]

I heard a program on EWTN talking about if you sign a Living Will, they will quite possibly fast-track you OUT in order to harvest your organs. Esp if they are needing a couple of eyeballs, for instance, and you are almost dead.

[wagglebee]

That’s why my medical directive makes it very clear that I want to live and I will not sign an organ donor card.

[goat granny]

LOL Never saw the movie but know that line......my liver is off limits...:O)

[huldah1776]

Not belittling the pro-life side of this at all, what about the stories of people who have been conscious during operations! Good Grief, Charlie Brown!