Once again, we are treading that moral minefield of the ‘life unworthy of living’ and the decision with purposeful intent to terminate a life. The gaining of acceptance of this concept led, in the 20th century, from sanatorium and clinic to concentration camp and gas chamber and world war.
The Netherlands and Belgium
This is from openPR
Transplantation of lungs: recovered from donors after euthanasia
Donors after cardiac death have increasingly provided organs for lung transplantation in Belgium Leuven ) report. "All donors expressed their wish for organ donation once their request for euthanasia was granted according to Belgian legislation. All donors suffered from an unbearable non-malignant disorder." One recipient died from a problem unrelated to the graft. The other three patients are still alive - in a good condition.
"The donors were admitted to the hospital a few hours before the planned euthanasia procedure. A central venous line was placed in a room adjacent to the operating room. Donors were heparinized immediately before a cocktail of drugs was given by the treating physician who agreed to perform the euthanasia.
"The donors were admitted to the hospital a few hours before the planned euthanasia procedure. A central venous line was placed in a room adjacent to the operating room. Donors were heparinized immediately before a cocktail of drugs was given by the treating physician who agreed to perform the euthanasia.
 As soon as he goes beyond 60-65 years of age man lives beyond his capacity to produce, and he costs society a lot of money...euthanasia will be one of the essential instruments of our future societies. |
Jacques Attali, former President of the European Bank for reconstruction and development. |
The abdominal team took care of liver and kidney preservation with a rapid flush cooling technique via a cannula inserted into the abdominal aorta. The thoracic team then opened pleural cavities and quickly inspected both lungs before topical cooling with ice-cold saline was started. The pericardium was opened, the main pulmonary artery was encircled,and a 24 Fr pulmoplegia catheter was inserted through the right ventricular outflow tract. The heart was decompressed and vented by cutting left and right atrial appendages. Antegrade pulmoplegia was started with 2.8L Perfadex solution while the lungs were ventilated with 50% inspired oxygen, followed by retrograde flush with one additional liter of the same perfusion solution after the heart was extracted.
Lungs were then explanted, packed and transported to the recipient hospital in the standard way..."
Lungs were then explanted, packed and transported to the recipient hospital in the standard way..."
Belgian doctors are using organs from euthanased patients
by Michael Cook 13 Jun 2011
Using organs from euthanased patients seem to have become a well established procedure in Belgium Leuven announced last week that it had successfully transplanted lungs from four euthanased patients between 2007 and 2009.
In an article in the journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathophysiology, the authors observe that the quality of the lungs from euthanased patients is superior to those obtained from brain dead donors and donations after cardiac death.
“In contrast to these donors, euthanasia donors do not experience an agonal phase before circulatory arrest as seen in donors dying from hypoxemia or from cardiogenic or hypovolemic shock.”
A number of patients who request euthanasia want to donate their organs. However, since they often have cancer, the organs are not suitable. Three of the euthanased patients who did donate suffered from “a debilitating benign disease such as a neurological or muscular disorder”. The other was not ill at all, but had an “unbearable mental disorder”.
The authors were at pains to stress that they acted strictly within the guidelines for euthanasia in Belgium
Organ donation after euthanasia in Belgium Austria , Belgium , Croatia , Germany , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and Slovenia
· Euthanasia must be legal in the donor country.
· The way euthanasia is done and how death is determined have to be legal.
· The euthanasia procedure and the explantation should follow a clear protocol.
· Euthanasia, organ retrieval and organ allocation should be kept as separate as possible.
· Organs should only be allocated to a patients on a Eurotransplant waiting list in countries which accept organs from euthanased patients.
Although exploiting patients’ wish to die for the sake of organ transplants may horrify many readers, this business has not been taking place in a dark basement. The Belgian team has not been shy about publicising their work. They described it at the 2006 World Transplant Congress and last December at a conference organised by the Belgian Royal Medical Academy
article seems to be the first time, however, that information about their work is readily accessible.
article seems to be the first time, however, that information about their work is readily accessible.
 its beginnings at first were merely a subtle shift in emphasis in the basic attitude of the physicians. It started with the attitude, basic in the euthanasia movement that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived. This attitude in its early stages concerned itself merely with the severely and chronically sick. Gradually the sphere of those to be included in this category was enlarged to encompass the socially unproductive, the ideologically unwanted, the racially unwanted and finally all non-Germans. |
Leo Alexander, a psychiatrist who gave evidence at Nuremberg in 1949. |
Criteria for accepting organs from patients were published in Eurotransplant’s 2008 annual report.
A host of probing questions need to be asked. We only know about transplants from euthanased patients at one hospital in
A document on the Eurotransplant website, “Current ethical considerations in organ transplantation”, fails to include transplants from euthanased patients amongst the ethical problems. Does that mean that it is not an ethical problem? Eurotransplant declares that “transparency” is a key corporate value. Yet its 2010 annual report omits the word “euthanasia”.
Eurotransplant has condemned the Chinese practice of using organs from executed prisoners.
“The commercial exploitation of organs from executed prisoners is considered a breach of human rights and is an unacceptable practice… any act that risks calling the practice of transplantation into disrepute is to be regretted.”
There has been wide reportage of so-called Living Will DNR directives and the recommendations coming from all quarters that such Wills and directives be made in order that personal wishes might be respected and made known at that moment when a medical situation may prevent them from being made known and personally expressed.
The BMA (British Medical Association), many transplant surgeons and politicians are keen to see Britain adopt a system of ‘presumed consent’ where it is assumed that everyone in the country wishes to be a donor unless they have ‘opted out’ by registering their objection to donation after their death as part of a Living Will directive. They feel this will lead to a massive rise in donors. And it should; although, some dispute that finding.
Such measures are not only afoot; they are well advanced.
Presumed consent organ donation to be Welsh law by 2015
The Welsh government says it plans to have a new law in place for presumed consent of organ donation by 2015.
The legislation would require people to opt out of donating their organs when they die, rather than opting in by signing the donor register.A superior quality organ harvest
There are many ’ethical’ problems related in the article above. These pertain to the suicidal and those executed under law. One thing is clear and that is a life terminated rather than being permitted to pass naturally permits a harvest of superior quality organs.
The DOH CQUIN payment framework program of promoting universal implementation of LCP protocols throughout the NHS (National-socialist Health Service) and their rolling out across the entire health sector accompanied by and in combination with a policy of ‘presumed consent’ would also result in a harvest of superior quality organs. That is a bounty not to be easily discounted or overlooked!
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