Euthanasia and Organ Donation. Questioning the "dead donor" rule.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have written and published several articles on the issue of euthanasia and organ donation. Euthanasia is being promoted as a great source of organs for donation.

A problem with the seduction of assisted death coupled with organ donation is that it turns killing into a "social good" and it creates pressure to remove or ignore the "dead donor" rule. Euthanasia by organ donation provides healthier organs than organ donation after euthanasia.

A (May 2020) article by Claudia Wallis published in Scientific America outlines how euthanasia coupled with organ donation turns killing into a "social good."

Wallis focuses on the euthanasia death of Fred Gillis. Wallis writes:

Gillis had not been a fan of the euthanasia law, but when he learned he could combine MAID with a plan to donate organs, “he was ecstatic,”

Gillis's widow, Lana Gregoire says:

“His attitude was, ‘ALS, you can't take this away. We're going to give life to other people.’”

Notice how Wallis emphasizes how Gillis had not been a fan of euthanasia but when coupled with organ donation he was ecstatic. This is a typical propaganda tool.

Wallis then writes about how the Netherlands has been allowing euthanasia coupled with organ donation for several years but in the United States where several states have legalized assisted suicide, supposedly, assisted suicide has not been coupled with organ donation.

The article ends by suggesting that imminent death donation could replace the "dead donor" rule. Wallis writes:

Fred Gillis was able to donate two kidneys, his lungs and his liver when he died in April 2018. “He knew he was giving life, and that's all that mattered,” Gregoire says. She and their three kids were by his side and toasted him that evening—at a hockey bar. “We knew he would like that.”

I guess the message is that we should celebrate killing Fred Gillis by lethal injection because his death provided organs for several people.

Once again, killing begets more killing. There is no "social good" in killing one person even to provide healthy organs for another person. This thinking will lead to euthanasia by organ donation which has no limits to its ethical and murderous outcome.