Posted on 07/10/2009 2:09:59 PM PDT by 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
And the culture of death will IGNORE this.
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We won’t have this with Obama Death Care.
Of course a lot of smaller hospitals wouldn’t be able to provide timely access to a heart lung machine .
They did.
Much as I don’t particularly feel good about it, this is why I’m not an organ donor.
If I felt like I had any control over when my organs would be taken from me, I might consider it.
Well said.
As The Aztec Journal of Heart Surgery said, “Who would want a heart from a dead person anyway? If the donor isn’t up, we don’t cut”.
“And the culture of death will ignore this”
No, they will celebrate this.
I didn’t know this! Treated like property of the state. Amazing.
Fortunately I have no organs anyone would want.
Even if I did, I would want them to wait until full rigor had set in before making any move.
And then I’d want them to wait a few more hours.
Unstable angina = heart no good
Smoker for 50 years = Lungs no good
IBS = G I system no good
Periodically kidney problems = nope on the kidneys
The only possible thing that might work well is the liver as I have never been a drinker...Anyone want a 70 year old liver?
Lawyers across America are salivating uncontrollably at this.
Imagine what will happen when a heart is “harvested” and the family finds out the ‘donor’ signature on the donor card was forged.
Bummer.
Moral: Don’t sign any donor cards.
Don't offer, granny. Livers are in short supply.
I'm going to set my ICD to shock any eager beaver doctor who might decide to lift any body parts prematurely.
Perhaps with some Fava beans and a nice Chianti?
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