Donating life

by Editor · June 13, 2007

Earlier this month, Dutch television company Endemol caused an international furore over its plans to broadcast a version of the Big Brother reality show in which viewers would vote who of three contestants in need of a kidney transplant would receive an organ donation from a fourth housemate, a supposedly mortally ill woman.

Rightly, the consensus was that such a programme represented the extreme in tasteless TV.

When the show went on air, however, the whole thing was exposed as a hoax. Endemol said that the idea was to highlight the very real problem of long waiting lists for donor organs in Europe (and, indeed, elsewhere), and to encourage people to avail themselves as potential donors.

The hoax has certainly raised awareness on the subject of organ donation to unprecedented levels. In so far, the deceit worked admirably well and will surely save lives. Sometimes, it seems, we need to be pushed by extreme measures to do good.

The notion of organ donation after death should be vigorously promoted. We urge readers to consider finding out more about making their organs available for transplantation after death by contacting the Organ Donor Foundation (www.odf.org.za) on 0800 226611.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes organ donation after death as a noble and meritorious act [which] is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity (para 2296).

We hope readers will take the time to discuss the prospect of donating viable organs after death and the implications thereof with their families, and encourage them to investigate this option as well.

For Catholics, however, there is a caveat to organ donation after death, to do with at what point one regards a person to be dead. The Catechism notes: [I]t is not morally admissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

In other words, it is Catholic teaching that a patient cannot be euthanised to save another person’s life, let alone that their organs be removed while still alive.

According to the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, in its doctrinally approved 1995 Charter for Health Care Workers, death occurs with the irreversible cessation of all cerebral activity, at which point the removal of organs is licit. Some ethicists dispute this view.

Live organ donation usually of a kidney, a lobe of the liver or lung, and bone marrow are entirely licit, provided these donations are not harmful to the donor’s health, are freely offered, and are not subject to financial transactions.

Pope John Paul II called such a gift a concrete gesture of solidarity and self-giving love. Southern Cross readers will recall such selfless giving, when in response to an appeal in this newspaper a Benedictine came forward to give one of his kidneys to a teenager whom he had met only through these pages.

Organ donation, especially of the live variety, is a gift. While Endemol was justified in highlighting the shortage of donor organs, accompanying commentary seemed to present the acquisition of such organs as a right. This it is not.

Nonetheless, as Christians we are called to act in solidarity with those who are suffering. One way to do so is to become an organ donor, with due consideration for the teachings of the Church.