Since we are on the subject:
Morally acceptable Organ
Donation and Transplantation:
And Catholic Church teaching
By Richard Mahoney, Founder
NATIONAL AMERICAN HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
http://www.cpforlife.org/memorial Actual Page is
http://cpforlife.org/id87.htm In conformity with sacred biblical teaching in conjunction with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, I will explain why the donation of vital organs is prohibited and immoral. Our Lord tells us in sacred scripture that "the life is in the blood" (Genesis 9 and Leviticus 17). Physiologically the fundamental building blocks of the human person are at the cellular level. Each cell within the body receives the oxygen and biochemical nutrients it needs for cellular metabolism through the blood. When perfusion (blood flow) ceases at the cellular level, whether through cardiopulmonary arrest, cardiopulmonary insufficiency, shock, exsanguination, etc. and the cells are no longer supplied with blood, metabolic acidosis ensues. For a certain time period this respiratory and/or metabolic acidosis is reversible by re-establishing ventilation and sufficient blood flow (perfusion) to the cells and vital organs. This is the basis of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support). A person, who arrives at a medical center in cardiac arrest and asystole and is resuscitated, was not dead and then brought back to life. The CPR and ACLS merely re-established adequate perfusion to the cells and vital organs before such an extensive ischemia and necrosis takes place as to make it irreversible (persistent irreversible catabolic state). Physiologically, death is an irreversible catabolic state leading to total cellular necrosis of the entire human body. Spiritually, death is the separation of body and soul. When the soul, which inhabits and animates the human person, no longer has a living organism to embody, it leaves the body and goes to its Creator.
Having thus laid the most basic premises of human physiology, life and death, we will now expose the falsehood and immorality of epivalothanasia (the Greek word for "imposed death") and euthanasia. In organ transplantation the donor's organs are taken while their heart is still beating and their vital organs adequately perfused. The donor is not only alive while his organs are being excised for transplantation, physiologically his organs are very healthy and in good shape. Historically over the past 40 years, in order to justify abortion and epivalothanasia, the American Medical Association has redefined the beginning of life, from the moment of conception to the moment of nidation (implantation) and has redefined death as a cerebral phenomena which they have coined "brain dead". In so doing, the vast majority of the medical establishment has chosen the "quality of life" ethic over the "sanctity of life" ethic. Initially they used cerebral electroencephalographic activity as a measure of classification. Currently, medical institutions have been using a Glascow Coma Scale as a criterion for organ donation. A human being's worth or quality of life even after a severe cerebral trauma (subdural hematoma, subarachnoid hemorrhage or ventricular bleed, etc.), pathology or anomaly cannot justify any "death dealing excision" of his vital organs. In the worst case scenario, although a medullary or pontine infarct would precipitate nearly immediate fatal demise, to excise organs while a person is alive is murder. To use a utilitarian philosophy to promote or actuate the death of a human person is heinous and immoral. The Church teaches that the donation of non-vital organs that would not cause death or debilitation of the donor is allowable as well as certain tissues such as corneas, bone and skin, which can still be useful for donation even after death.
In conclusion Pope John Paul II reminds us "Neither human life nor the human person can ever be treated as an object to be manipulated or as a disposable commodity; rather each human being at every stage of existence, from conception to natural death, is endowed by God with a sublime dignity that demands the greatest respect in vigilance on the part of individuals, communities, nations and international bodies". Father John Powell states in his book Abortion: The Silent Holocaust, "The problem of birth control and birth selection are extended inevitably to death selection and death control whether by the individual or by society". Quoting Malcolm Muggeridge, "We will not recognize the true value of our own lives until we affirm the value in the lives of others; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, it is still a Divine Flame which no man dare to presume to put out, be his motives ever so humane and enlightened".
Richard Mahoney, RRT CPT
Here goes: My opinion: Life begins at conception.
Euthanasia is something I am totally against. One concern I have is how do we know at what point a person is really brain dead for ever, and when the medical professional wants the old useless person gone to harvest the organs?