![]() ![]() Thus if living patients or their surrogates give the okay, doctors should be allowed to euthanize by means of live harvesting.Īn article just published in the Journal of Medical Ethics epitomizes the argument. These advocates argue that consent should be the primary ethical concern and criteria for organ harvesting-not that a donor is dead. Prominent voices among the medical elite have called for the overturning of the “dead donor rule”-the ethical backbone of organ transplant medicine requiring that a patient die naturally from injury or illness before vital organs can be procured. In a particularly bitter irony, the latter patient was a chronic self-harmer, the “treatment” for which was a willing professional team ready to administer the ultimate harm. Three of the donors were struggling with neuromuscular disabilities-people who often face social isolation and discrimination-and one was mentally ill. ![]() Four people-who were not otherwise dying- were killed and then swiftly wheeled into a surgery suite to have their organs removed. Ponder the enormity of what was done here. The deceased was then rapidly transferred, installed on the operating table, and intubated. The patient was announced dead on cardiorespiratory criteria by 3 independent physicians as required by Belgian legislation for every organ donor. Donors were heparinized immediately before a cocktail of drugs was given by the treating physician who agreed to perform the euthanasia. A central venous line was placed in a room adjacent to the operating room. ![]() A 2011 article published by Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology was particularly chilling in its detached clinical description of the euthanasia killings of four patients in preparation for organ procurement: Donors were admitted to the hospital a few hours before the planned euthanasia procedure. Since 2008, several articles have been published in respectable medical journals lauding this forming symbiosis. Once society accepts that sick patients can be relieved of their suffering by being killed, it won’t take long to conclude that they can also be exploited for their no-longer-needed parts.Įuthanasia by lethal injection has already been coupled with organ donation in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Hippocratic Oath? Fuggettaboudit! The modern healthcare system is expected to embrace properly utilitarian perspectives. The ethics of medicine aren’t what they used to be. Shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder. ![]()
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