ORGAN TRANSPLANT & The Catholic Church

Objective

To discuss the following

What is the position of the Catholic Church on organ donation for the purpose of transplant?

What moral principles are involved?

What would motivate one to be an organ donor?

What is organ donation?

Organ donation is the process of removing tissues or organ's from a live , or recently dead , person to be used in another.

People of all ages can become donors.

What organs can be donated?

Organs and tissue that can be donated include

the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, small

bowel, stomach, corneas, heart valves, bone and skin.

Types of organ transplants

Inter Vivos TransplantTakes place among the living. This can include a donation such as bone marrow.

Cadaver transplant (postmortem)Donations typically involve an organ necessary for sustaining life. Includes donations such as a heart , lung, liver , or kidney.

Stats

More than 4,000 Canadians are waiting for an organ transplant to save their lives. Last year, only 1,803 transplants were performed. Many patients remain on waiting lists. Unfortunately, 195 Canadians died while waiting for an organ transplant. Three-quarters of the patients on the list are waiting for a kidney transplant.

Are you a donor , or considering to become a registered donor?

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THE NEED: ORGAN DONORS AND PATIENTS WAITING1988 through 2000

Organ Donors Patients WaitingData courtesy of UNOS.

As you can see the gap between the number of organ donors and patients waiting is growing rapidly.

More people need to consider giving the gift of life.

Do you know anyone that is waiting for an organ donor?

Catholic View

In general , the Catholic Church approves organ transplantation.

Pope Pius XII taught, “A person may will to dispose of his body and to destine it to ends that are useful, morally irreproachable and even noble, among them the desire to aid the sick and suffering. One may make a decision of this nature with respect to his own body with full realization of the reverence which is due it.... This decision should not be condemned but positively justified”

Catholic View"Transplants are a great step forward in science'sservice of man, and not a few people today owe their lives to an organ transplant. Increasingly,the technique of transplants has proven to be avalid means of attaining the primary goal of allmedicine - the service of human life…There is aneed to instill in people's hearts, especially in thehearts of the young, a genuine and deepappreciation of the need for brotherly love, a lovethat can find expression in the decision to becomean organ donor."

- Pope John Paul II to attendees at the International Congress on Transplants in Rome – August 2000

Catholic View

Pope John Paul II sums up the position of the Church in these words:

The Gospel of life is to be celebrated above all in daily living, which should be filled with self-giving love for others. . . . Over and above such outstanding moments, there is an everyday heroism, made up of gestures of sharing, big or small, which build up an authentic culture of life. A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope (Evangelium Vitae, no. 86, original emphasis).

Ethical Considerations

The Church has stated that both type of transplants are rightful , because they are considered fraternal charity.

However the church did state that certain requirements must be met.

Ethical Considerations

1. The necessity of informed consent legitimately given by the donor or one who speaks for him.

2. The physical and psychological risks incurred by the donor must be proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. The donor must be aware of these risks and the proportionate good.

Ethical Considerations

3. To destroy the healthy functioning or intrinsic beauty of one's body, even to delay death of another, is morally wrong.

Organ transplants are not morally acceptable if the donor or those who legitimately speak for him have not given their informed consent.

Inter vivos donations

These donations can arise a moral dilemma.

Such donations should not seriously impair or destroy bodily functions.

When are Inter vivos donations morally wrong?

Example : A person is in need of an eye.

If a living person decides to donate his eye to the other person it would be considered morally wrong. This is because such a sacrifice would seriously impair the donor.

The Catholic Church’s Reasoning Dealing with fraternal charity , which is

the practice of charity with a love that recognizes another person as a child of God.

The Catholic Church states that one has the responsibility for the integrity of ones body.

There are set limits on inter vivos organ donations. Otherwise donations would potentially lead to assisted suicide.

Postmortem donations

Moral issues revolve around a definition of death.

Those involved must have certain proof that death has occurred.

The Church is against causing the death of a donor because of organ transplant , even if the death is inevitable due to natural causes.

Conditions that must be met

The donor must be verifiably and legitimately dead.

Proper, informed consent must have been given by the deceased donor with verification from a trustworthy source

The remains of the donor must be treated with the same respect consistent with what was until death, and will be again, a temple of the Holy Spirit.

“to donate one’s organs is an act of love that is morally licit, as long as it is free and spontaneous.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

Discussion

Which of your organs would you want for organ transplants after you die?

What do you think of people who refuse organ transplants?

Would you give up one of your kidneys or half of your liver to save the life of a friend?

Catholic Agencies

Catholic Relief Serviceshttp://crs.org/

Catholic Education Resource Centerhttp://catholiceducation.org

Archdiocese of Torontohttp://www.archtoronto.org/organdonation/index.htm

Catholic Inquiry Centerhttp://www.catholicenquiry.com/life-and-death/what-does-the-church-say-about-organ-donation.html

Bibliography

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0019.html

http://www.lhsc.on.ca/About_Us/MOTP/Statistics/index.htm

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0347.html

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=1147

http://catholicinsight.com/online/bioethics/article_747.shtml

http://www.archtoronto.org/organdonation/index.htm http://www.catholicenquiry.com/life-and-death/what-does-

the-church-say-about-organ-donation.html