Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Liver transplants after euthanasia

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

study published July 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) outlines the advantages of organ donation after euthanasia.
The study examined 409 Liver Transplants in Belgium whereby 320 livers (78%) were obtained after brain death, 78 livers (19%) after circulatory death and 11 livers (2.7%) (after euthanasia). The results were:
Liver transplantation after donor brain death, circulatory death, or euthanasia resulted in 3-year graft survival of 80.2% (95% CI, 75.4%-84.2%), 82% (95% CI, 71.6%-89%), and 90.9% (95% CI, 50.8%-98.7%) (P = .67) and 3-year patient survival of 86.1% (95% CI, 81.9%-89.5%), 84.6% (95% CI, 74.5%-91%), and 90.9% (95% CI, 50.8%-98.7%) (P = .84), respectively.
According to this study the 3 year graft survival rate was 80.2% (brain death), 82% (circulatory death) and 90.9% (euthanasia). The three year patient survival rate was 86.1% (brain death), 84.6% (circulatory death ) and 90.9% (euthanasia).

The study then concludes:

These data support the notion that within a very strict ethicolegal and logistic framework, donation after euthanasia may represent a valuable source of donor organs. The small sample size, limited follow-up, and monocentric nature of the study preclude definitive conclusions but provide a rationale for larger, longer-term studies on efficacy and safety of donation after euthanasia.
The study admits that there were only a few transplants after euthanasia, leading to inconclusive data nonetheless I predict that there will be more studies like this one. Organ donation after euthanasia turns euthanasia into a social "good" and creates new pressure for people to die by euthanasia. 

Euthanasia by organ donation is also being promoted since heart transplants are not possible when organ donation follows euthanasia, whereas heart transplants are possible when euthanasia is done by organ donation.


Euthanasia by organ donation refers to the act of causing death by retrieving the organs rather than retrieving the organs after death.


11 comments:

Gwen said...

This is so gruesome and barbaric. What is the world coming to when killing people is the norm any more. Babies unwanted, kill them. Organs needed, kill the donor by taking their organs. It is sickening. Where is the love and care? What about the Hippocratic oath, or has that gone by the way of the dinosaurs too?

Magdalena said...

Dr. Mengele?

Anonymous said...

Organ donation is very corrupt. Thius article made me sick to my stomach.

Voice of Gone Ballistic said...

A new way of euthanasia, agree to an organ donation, the removal of which will kill you. This does not sound like Bill C-14.

sophie j said...

I know this issue has been raised before, but maybe the world needs to see and hear the truly gory and barbaric details of how you remove someone's organs and then 'euthanase' them. I have said many times that 'it never matters until it is you, or yours'. People need to see this for what it actually is. Let's get them to switch on, rather than switch off to such happenings.

slbukowski said...

In this study the livers were removed from the donors' bodies AFTER euthanasia. Since the livers were without blood flow between the euthanasia and the removal of the liver, liver survival in the recipients was reduced. Will the proposal be made, or is it perhaps already being tried, that the livers be removed from the donors by operation BEFORE euthanasia, with euthanasia afterward while the donor is still under anesthesia? Can we further expect the proposal that every organ with a recipient match be taken at operation prior to euthanasia, from every willing patient? And somewhere along the line, hardier tissues be taken for tissue banks (eyes, skin, tendons, bones)? More reasons to pressure people into euthanasia...

Alex Schadenberg said...

There is significant discussion about euthanasia by organ donation.
http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2019/05/euthanasia-by-organ-donation-doctors.html

The dead donor rule stands in the way of killing by organ removal.

Agi nurse said...

Dear Slbukpwski,
If you remove someone’s heart, and/or other organs, that person will die, no need for euthanasia afterward. They simply assume they are under anesthesia and won’t feel anything anyway. Barbaric any way you look at it!

Daniel said...

I think properly done euthanasia is good. If you are against it, got to the patients that just lay there on their bed, without any responce, just with a heart that is still beating. Why would you want them to remain in this situation, only because we now have a medical care that allows forcing a body to stay alive. - Sakit.info

Mary Henderson said...

Each human is more than just a collection of reusable spare parts waiting for harvesting for someone else's use and thus expendable.

Agi nurse said...

Daniel. Those people lying in bed without a response did not request euthanasia. They are not capable, so how do you know what they may want. I myself have witnessed as a nurse a young father in a coma for 5 or more years. He came out of it. You hear this all the time. I personally know someone on life support who’s daughter was asked many times if she wanted to take her mother off life support. Her mother is now well, she is walking, talking and dancing.

Perhaps there’s is more to life than just having everything go our way. Perhaps in the grander scheme of things, one persons life (even with serious health issues) is as valuable as a healthy persons. That perhaps another persons suffering should invoke within us a deep sense of giving that person the best possible life no matter how broken their body is. That’s we need to step up and give love and compassion to these people. Help them relieve any pain with the best medical care and medication possible. That we spend time at their bedside talking with them, playing music to them, singing to them. Reading to them, holding their hand. Telling them that no matter what has happened to their body, they are still precious and they matter. Not only do they benefit, and know that their lives are not worthless, but humanity also benefits because we become better people. We learn compassion, loving, caring, and selflessness and so much more. We learn that no ones life is disposable.