“If that is correct, then you should be arguing on here against hospitals ending care and harvesting organs against the wishes of families. The situation in this article has done immense harm to the cause of organ donation.”
I agree with this statement, but almost every party here has their hands tied by laws created to prevent abuse.
The law requires the hospital to notify the OPO.
The law requires the OPO to respect the expressed wishes of the patient over the family.
I assure you that both the hospital and the OPO are cringing about this publicity. Neither can legally change their course of action as a result.
If you Will your possessions to someone, the law is going to protect your right to do so. This is the same concept.
I don’t want someone making donation decisions about me based on how it will affect their publicity. I’m glad the law protects my interests. If you read Bastiat’s, The Law, this is why law should exist: to enforce my interests over others, even if it’s bad PR for others.
The girl had an expressed interest in donating. She was dead. Nobody’s opinion or self-interest mattered at that point but hers.
Prevent abuse, and like everything else in medicine, to create enormous financial incentives.
The law requires the hospital to notify the OPO. The law requires the OPO to respect the expressed wishes of the patient over the family.
If that is the case, you can expect far fewer people to volunteer for organ donation. The families wishes should always be a primary priority. One case like this could easily cause hundreds of people to rescind their organ donation intentions. I would expect several of the people I have already forwarded this article to do so.
I assure you that both the hospital and the OPO are cringing about this publicity. Neither can legally change their course of action as a result.
I doubt any of them are cringing at the substance of this case, only that this one was made public. If they truly wanted the families' interests to be better represented, they could work for that. Instead, the transplant "industry" is that main driver for creating these anti-family policies.
If you Will your possessions to someone, the law is going to protect your right to do so. This is the same concept.
You can't sell or even will your organs to anyone. They can only be donated, and fewer people will be willing to do so after cases like this one.
I don’t want someone making donation decisions about me based on how it will affect their publicity. I’m glad the law protects my interests. If you read Bastiat’s, The Law, this is why law should exist: to enforce my interests over others, even if it’s bad PR for others.
Yes, especially when it enforces medical entities' financial interests over the interests of families!
The girl had an expressed interest in donating. She was dead.
Legally dead, but not clinically dead. Or so said the people who benefited financially from her death. The same people who made the determination. If ever there were a life-or-death conflict of interest, this is it.
Nobody’s opinion or self-interest mattered at that point but hers.
Certainly not her family's. Like most people, she almost assuredly would have wanted her family making a decision like that instead of people who would profit from her death. Again, you can expect cases like this, and arguments of people like you defending them, to result in fewer people will to donate their organs.