[Natalie] This is HUGE and would have serious ramifications going forward. Please read this short article about possible revisions to definition of Brain Death and the USCCB’s serious reservations. I already have concerns about the way these are decided, definitely concerning if they change it and how it would be used by various drs / hospitals/ ins co.’s
[John] As Natalie points out, this is huge. It really is huge! There are many people who don’t understand how big a deal this is. In fact, there are many priests who don’t understand it.
The book “Finis Vitae, Is Brain Death True Death?” contains a compilation of papers, compiled at the request of Pope JPII in 2005. These papers make a powerful case that brain death may not in fact be true death.
Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, PhD, is well respected in the field of bioethics. Please check out his writings.
Medical practitioners have been able, for millennia, to tell when true death has occurred. The movement toward a new determination of death most likely started quietly, with the first heart transplant in 1967. Then, when ways were found to make organ transplants work, in 1968, we suddenly have a new definition of death. How convenient.
It is my personal conclusion that the diagnosis of “brain death” is nothing more than an excuse to justify killing people for their organs. Now they, the ones with the vested pecuniary interest, want to make it easier to justify killing people.
To share a kidney or liver fragment or a lung is one thing; but to harvest the heart of an otherwise living person (to me at least) is a grave evil.
These ethical issues are discussed by Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD. aka Fr Tad, the Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philly.
Once on the site, browse Topical Index to find writings on brain death.
For what it’s worth, five years ago, the ejection fraction of my heart was recorded at 8 to 11 on a scale of 0 to 70. I was told that I needed a heart transplant. My wife and I discussed it; and the decision was “no”, no transplant. My God is now my strength!
Pray sincerely about the issue, read Finis Vitae, read Fr Tad’s works, bring it to confession if applicable, all in the interest of forming a good conscience.
God bless.
[Nancy] I am certified in Bioethics from the National Bioethics Center in Philadelphia and studied under the tutelage of Fr. Tad directly and also have a Masters in Bioethics and Theology from Holy Apostles a college and a seminary and I can tell you that brain death is not death. It was used to harvest live organs because once a person is truly dead those organs are not as good or cannot be used at all.
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