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Invasion of the Organ Snatchers
by Alberto Carosa, editor of Famiglia
Domani Flash, Writing from Rome
"The heated discussion of
human cloning and related genetic issues is overshadowing another, equally
crucial, debate, on organ donation and transplantation. The two debates have a
common feature: They are increasingly dividing those who are called to deal with
these problems, including medical doctors, academics, law experts, scientists,
clergy, and theologians.
"Whereas the general inclination -- with the
notable exception of the British parliament -- is to ban human cloning, the
trend regarding transplants is the opposite -- namely, to encourage organ
donation.
"The culture of organ donation received a boost
late last August, when, at a six-day congress on organ transplantation, Pope
John Paul II encouraged the removal of vital organs from dead patients as a
genuine act of love to save the lives of others. This donation, according to the
Pope, may not be unqualified and can only take place after death, because to act
otherwise would mean intentionally to cause the death of the donor. In the
Pope's words, the fact that the means of determining the moment of death has
shifted from the traditional cardio-respiratory signs to the 'neurological
criterion' (the complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity) 'does
not seem to conflict with the essential elements of a sound anthropology,'
provided this criterion is 'rigorously applied.'
"But a growing minority of the scientific
community is concerned that the neurological approach is invalid. So far, some
120 signatories from 19 countries --including scientists, philosophers, judges,
attorneys, clergy, pro-family leaders, and disability-rights and pro-life
advocates of varying political and religious persuasions --have forwarded to the
Pope what constitutes the largest international public statement in history in
opposition to the 'brain death' criterion and unpaired vital organ
transplantation. A few days later, the matter was taken up by the Jornal do
Brasil, which ran a feature headlined 'Movement contests the use of brain death
criterion.'
"Signatories include such prominent 'brain death'
critics as Dr. Paul Byrne (United States), Dr. Cicero Coimbra (Brazil), Dr.
David Evans (England), Prof. Josef Seifert (Liechtenstein), and Dr. Yoshio
Watanabe (Japan). The list features many Italians, including thoracic surgeon
Luigi Gagliardi, geneticist Giuseppe Sermonti, and Nerina Negrello, the
flamboyant president of Lega Nazionale Contro la Predazione di Organi e la Morte
a Cuore Battente. 'Inasmuch as these controversies quite literally involve
matters of life and death, physical and spiritual,' they argue, 'a clear
understanding of their nature is vital to the survival of both life and truth,
life's guardian.'
"To confirm with moral certainty that 'the
complete and irreversible cessation of all brain activity (in the cerebrum,
cerebellum, and brain stem)' has occurred would require the total absence of all
circulation and respiration, the statement claims. Confirmation of this absence
would necessitate that the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem -- as well as
the circulatory and respiratory systems -- have been destroyed.
"Observing that none of the shifting sets of
'so-called' neurological criteria for determining death fulfills the
requirements described by the Pope in his address, the statement argues that,
'In fact, "brain death" is not death, and death ought not to be
declared unless the entire brain and the respiratory and circulatory systems
have been destroyed.' For vital organs to be suitable for transplantation,
however, they must be living organs --and that requires removal from living
human beings. Moreover, the signatories conclude,
"persons condemned to death as 'brain
dead' are not 'certainly dead' but, to the contrary, are certainly alive. Thus
adherence to the restrictions stipulated by the Pope and the prohibitions
imposed by God Himself in the Natural Moral Law precludes the transplantation
of unpaired vital organs, an act which causes the death of the 'donor' and
violates the fifth commandment of the divine Decalogue, 'Thou shalt not kill'
(Deut. 5:17).
"One of the signatories, American physician Dr. Paul A. Byrne, has
coauthored a new book, Beyond
Brain Death: The Case Against Brain Based Criteria for Human Death,
which was released by Netherlands-based publisher Kluwer Academic at the very
moment that country was busy decriminalizing euthanasia. One of the groups
coordinating the collection of signatures is Citizens United Resisting
Euthanasia, the oldest single-issue anti-euthanasia organization in the United
States. Its director, Earl Appleby, Jr., has made it clear that 'we are not
through by any means,' and more signatures continue to amass.
"This petition is likely to be remembered for
another reason: an unprecedented rift in a pontifical institution. In fact, it
was signed by a former secretary of the Pontifical Academy for Life (professor
of bioethics Fr. Christian Marie Charlot) and two of its present members (the
president of the Family of the America's Foundation Mercedes Arzu Wilson and
Prof. Josef Seifert, rector of the International Academy for Philosophy in
Liechtenstein), as well as two Roman Catholic bishops and other clergy,
religious, and priests.
"Members of a pontifical academy have distanced
themselves from the official line of their institution for the first time. As
Dr. Paul Byrne explained in a recent interview in London's Catholic Times, the
dissenters' intention is not to challenge the Pope's general teaching on the
matter, which he believes to be sound, but to clarify the medical aspects. In
fact, he claims, the Pope may not have grasped the finer details of this
complicated medical procedure. 'The Holy Father is dependent on the advisers
around him,' contends Dr. Byrne.
"I strongly suspect that he has not
been told that you can't get a healthy heart to be used for transplantation
unless you get it from a living person. Although his teachings are clear,
the medical aspects of it need to be clarified in that regard.
"Dr. Byrne goes on to explain that, while a vital organ is being removed,
there is blood pressure, the body temperature is being regulated, the heart is
beating, and the person is passing urine. In short, the donor is still alive. 'Brain
death is a lie,' he argues. 'One shouldn't use the word dying because one is
either alive or one is dead.' And there have been documented cases of people,
he points out, who have fully recovered after being declared brain dead.
John Paul
II has condemned all experiments in the cloning of human embryos and has
encouraged the donation of organs as a genuine act of love. But the only type of
organ transplants that are acceptable, according to Dr. Byrne, are those that do
not cause death --for instance, when a person offers up one of two healthy
kidneys, or a lobe of his lung or liver, or donates tissue, such as bone marrow,
which can be removed after death has occurred.
Views expressed by Doctors Joseph
Evers
and Paul Byrne in their landmark expose,
"Brain Death-Still a Controversy"
(The Pharos, Fall, 1990):
"To say that a patient on a
ventilator, declared "brain dead," is certain to die, and is,
therefore, no longer a person is to deny reality.
"Great care must be taken not to declare a person
dead even one moment before death has actually occurred. Death should only be
declared after, not before the fact, as to declare death prematurely is to
commit a fundamental injustice. A person who is dying is still alive, even a
moment before death, and must be treated as such.
". . . Death ought not to be declared unless and
until there is destruction of the entire brain, and of the respiratory and
circulatory systems as well."
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