According to Dr. Heidi Klessig, retired anesthesiologist and co-author of Harvesting Organs and Cherishing Life, “The Uniform Law Commission is considering changing the standards for death determination for the entire United States.” Their proposal will make it easier for doctors to declare someone brain dead and make it more difficult for family members to contest a brain death diagnosis.
Until 1968, legal death was determined based on elapsed time without breathing or a heartbeat. There is currently no standard, universal test or procedure for determining the diagnosis of brain death.
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s Executive Director Alex Schadenberg said, “It is well accepted that ‘brain death’ was legally adopted to allow the supply of organs for transplantation.” Further, he said, “The underlying problem is that brain death represents a value judgment.”
In an article “Declared Dead with a Beating Heart,” on Dr. Klessig’s website, Christopher Bogosh states, “It’s hard to believe that only 41 years ago, a person on a ventilator with a beating heart was protected from murder by U.S. law. All of that has changed since 1981 and the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA). Today, people with a damaged brain that meet an elusive irreversible standard are considered dead under the UDDA, even if the heart continues to pulsate in their chest. Less than 50 years ago, physicians could be charged with murder for engaging in this willful act to end a person’s life.”
Christians concur that while a person may not be conscious, they still have a soul living within them; therefore, they are not dead.
A Shocking Secular Point-of-View
A recent article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, authored by University of Utah bioethicist Anthony P. Smith, urges that it is not morally wrong for doctors to be allowed to harvest vital organs, even if a patient is still living, as long as they are cognitively disabled because they have no “ultimate interests.”
An article on Med Page Today by Randy Dotinga states, “… transplant surgeons across the country are experimenting with a kind of partial resurrection: They’re allowing terminal to die, then restarting their hearts while clamping off blood flow to their brains. The procedure allows the surgeons to inspect and remove organs from warm bodies with heartbeats.”
On the contrary, A Celebrate Life Magazine article, “The Dangers of Organ Donation,” states, “And we cannot raise our voices if we are not informed; thus, we must all be aware of the grim reality behind what could happen when a person is declared ‘brain dead’ but is not truly dead.
The Living from the Dead, Only a Very Few of Many Similar Stories
A court case in Illinois involved a woman who was determined to be dead, so removal of both kidneys for donation began. During the procedure, her heart spontaneously began beating followed by her gasping for breath. The county coroner ruled the cause of her death to be homicide.
A BBC News article tells the story of an 18 year old who was declared brain dead after being struck by a vehicle. His sister was quoted, “They said that Lewis had passed away, his brainstem was dead… and there was nothing more they could do.” However, hours before surgery to remove his organs, he began breathing on his own. He is now living a fully healthy life.
Another testimony in the article told of a baby boy who was declared brain dead due to oxygen deprivation. Doctors were astounded that, when he was removed from life support, he continued to breathe on his own and squeezed his mother’s finger. He also is now living a fully healthy life.
These cases are but a few examples of how the donation of organs has become big business without consideration of the best interest of the donors. Treating people with beating hearts as a commodity is dehumanizing and morally unacceptable.
Georgia Right to Life urges doctors to recognize the humanity and personhood of those with serious conditions who may be considered brain dead. The sanctity of human life should be the ultimate priority for the medical doctor, no matter the patient’s status.
Dr. Klessig’s website https://www.respectforhumanlife.com/ gives more detailed information on the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) and the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA).
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition website https://epcc.ca/ includes a very informative blog by Alex Schadenberg detailing proposed changes to current laws.
Legally Protect Yourself from Unethical Organ Removal
In 2006, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) was updated to mandate that individuals who do not wish to donate must explicitly state so.
“If family is not ‘reasonably available’, that is to say, able to be contacted by an organ procurement organization without undue effort and willing and capable to act in a timely manner consistent with existing medical criteria necessary for making an anatomical gift, and there is no documented evidence of the decedent’s choice not to donate; the administrator of the hospital ‘shall make an anatomical gift of the decedent’s body or part.'” (UAGA C.26.6-85)
You must explicitly state that you DO NOT WANT TO BE AN ORGAN DONOR, click to download a PDF for a wallet size Donor Refusal Card. Respect for Human Life.com suggests that you also add your refusal to be an organ donor to your electronic medical record.
How to Retract your Donor Registration
If you no longer wish to be a registered organ donor, you can change your status at Donate Life Georgia. With medical procedures for determining brain death that are confusing and not being followed as intended, if you are currently a registered organ donor and a doctor declares you legally dead, your organs will be taken, regardless of objections from your family or your healthcare power of attorney.
By M. Darlene Moore
Georgia Right to Life
Contributing Writer
Sources:
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2023/01/are-people-who-are-declared-brain-dead.html
https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/reexamining-flawed-legal-basis-dead-donor-rule-foundation-organ-donation-policy/2020-12
https://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/search/label/Brain%20death
https://www.respectforhumanlife.com/post/the-ethics-of-organ-harvesting-and-transplant;
https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/100950
https://www.respectforhumanlife.com/post/declared-dead-with-a-beating-heart
https://www.respectforhumanlife.com/post/cherish-your-life-don-t-be-a-registered-organ-donor