Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Normalizing Organ Harvesting after Euthanasia.

This article was published in the National Review online on May 26, 2021

Wesley Smith
By Wesley J Smith

In 1993, my first ever anti-euthanasia column warned in Newsweek that once euthanasia became accepted widely, it would be followed by organ harvesting “as a plum to society.” By now, you know how that story goes. I was accused of alarmism, slippery-slope advocacy, conspiracy theories, etc., etc. And, as these kind of stories nearly always end, it came to be — in Canada, Netherlands, and Belgium, with more likely to follow over time.

Now, organ harvesting after euthanasia has become so normalized within the medical intellegentsia, that an American Medical Association publication, JAMA Surgery, had a letter debate — not about the propriety of killing and harvesting, but about whether the kill should begin at home or in a hospital.

Two doctors say that “organ donation after euthanasia starting at home” (ODEH) is the way to go:
The patient is only sedated at home, which marks the start of euthanasia in legal terms but is medically only intended to remove consciousness while vital functions are maintained and secured. Coma induction and the start of the agonal phase [killing] subsequently take place in the intensive care unit after farewells at home and transportation [to the hospital].
Their debaters says, no, start the homicides in the hospital:
A guideline for ODEH should be developed, including instructions for physicians on how to act if the condition of the patient deteriorates during transport. In the ODEH case presented by Mulder and Sonneveld, noradrena line was given to maintain adequate blood pressure during transport to the hospital. This could be interpreted as violation of an important principle of organ donation after euthanasia, namely that the euthanasia and organ donation should be at all times handled as 2 separate entities.
No one says — don’t do it!

But I will. Some of these patients (in Belgium and Netherlands) are not physically sick, but mentally ill. Believing that their deaths are more valuable than their lives — because of the lives potentially saved by their organs — could easily become the tipping point for some of these anguished patients to decide to be killed. Note: These are people who would otherwise live for years.

In other words, organ donation could be an inducement to euthanasia. That could also be true of disabled patients who are the other prime cadre of ODE targets because they have “good organs.”

Moreover, in Ontario, Canada, the organ donation society is told in advance by doctors of a planned euthanasia, and representatives call the patient/family to ask for their organs! It’s almost out of a Monty Python skit, “Hello, can we have your liver?”

No, of course suicide prevention is not offered! That might get in the way of suffering people agreeing to be transformed into so many natural resources.

9 comments:

Grandfather McKenzie said...

What a sick world... Life is precious.

Bessie said...

Life is precious. I am sad to know the Federal Liberal government had the need of pushing this Euthanization legislation into place. I am totally against euthaniza nor organ harvesting should ever be permitted. That is just sick! China charges lots for people in need of organs. This is so wrong.

Friend of the vulnerable said...

What a sick, immoral, unconscionable, murderous society our country has become. God help us all!

Jill J said...

Recently I retired from Nursing (RN) after 40 years. I’m considering going back “casual” in a local Hospice. I’m already bracing myself for MAiD to be in my face again. The “slippery slope” is no longer a conspiracy theory in Canada, and it’s committed under such a sickly sweet guise. God have mercy on us!

Angie said...

What has this world come to? Very very sad!

Joana Livoti, RN,BS,MS said...

"Normalizing Organ Harvesting After Euthanasia" How sad and sick! The beat of the Culture of Death goes forward and on... How sad and sick! You've killed the most innocent of innocents... the babies in the womb and harvested those precious baby's organs for your own evil deeds! Now you want to euthanize/kill other patients. The end does NOT justify the means and NEVER will! We nurses and physicians who serve God by taking care of His sick would never harm and/or kill a patient, we are healers NEVER KILLERS! Please all nurses and physicians of good will stand up for the Sanctity of all Human Life and the Innate Dignity of the Human Person created in the Imago Dei, the Image and Likeness of God!!! God, Alone is the Author of Life, He gives us Life and calls us Home when He is ready! No physician or nurse or anyone else has that power! STOP THE KILLING! Physicians be true to the Original Hippocratic Oath for Physicians, never to harm, never to kill and to your Higher Oath to God,to serve God by taking good care of the patients He has allowed you to care for, never to harm, never to kill a patient. Nurses be true to the original Florence Nightingale Pledge you took never to harm, never to kill a patient and to your Higher Oath to God to take good care of the patients that He has allowed you to care for, never to harm, never to kill a patient!SO NO,NO,NO you can not normalize organ harvesting after euthansia!

Unknown said...

No organ harvesting in the USA. Sincerely Lauretta black anyway I have thyroid disease and I can't even give blood. Lauretta Black

Unknown said...

It is so evident that Satan is doing his best, in claiming the soul for condemnation, rather than salvation. Imagine, what terrible consequences for all concerned. Just can't imagine how these individuals plan to justify themselves on judgement day...BUT .. OF THE COURSE
the perpetrator, as well as the victim will have all enternity to blame each other...but there won't be any relief...or release...this is eternal. Oh God spare any of us, from thinking that we have the right over life and death. How long can the Lord still tolerate thsi world, and its evils..And to think, it will only continue to get worse. Lord come quickly...save us Lord.
Henry Hooge.

R. Contti said...

What about abortions after a 9 months pregnancy, becomming now the rule in France? This seems to be an incredibly rich occasion for "harvesting" organs.