Where Will Demand for Organ Donation Lead Us?
Dr. Stuart J. Youngner, professor of medicine and psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, states that “The driving force for using ‘brain death’ as a legal definition of death is the ever-growing demand for transplant organs.” (Family Practice News, May 1, 1996) Commentary: Two points should be noted. First, a psychiatrist is sought for ethical opinions. That is natural in modern society. They are the priests, and since ethics (as well a definition of death) is ultimately and unavoidably religious, the cultural priest is sought. Second, the blind belief in medical science, regardless of ethics, is evident. Again, “Damn individual rights, we must have organs.” Anyone who has worked in emergency rooms already knows that legal and ethical lines are crossed with trauma patients to justify “harvesting their organs.” These lines will be pushed further and further back. Some already believe that your organs are not your own. The proposal has already been made that un
