Giving life after death

by Editor · June 16, 2010

A� few years ago Pope Benedict revealed that as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he carried an organ donors� card on him, seeing the posthumous gift of viable organs to those who need them to live, or live better, as an act of love.

Pope Benedict�s encouragement of organ donation did much to put to rest concerns by Catholics that were theological, not squeamish, in nature. There has been an abiding concern that one�s corpse should be maintained intact, in as far as natural burial allows, for the promised bodily resurrection on the last day; the reason why for centuries the Church discouraged cremation. The guardian of Catholic doctrine evidently saw organ donation as no obstacle to our final-day resurrection.

It is necessary that leaders in the Church and society promote organ donation to address cultural and religious misconceptions about it. Priests, for example, can do so from the pulpit. They would be preaching a profoundly Catholic message.

Pope John Paul II called organ donation a �concrete gesture of solidarity and self-giving love�. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes it as �a noble and meritorious act [which] is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity� (para 2296), with the proviso that a patient is not euthanised to save another person�s life.

The Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers set the moment of death at �irreversible cessation of all cerebral activity�, at which point organ removal is licit. This also reflects South African law.

Every year, thousands of people die while they are awaiting life-saving transplants. Meanwhile, tens of thousands are buried or cremated with such life-saving organs intact. More than being a gift of love, which it certainly is, the willingness to be an organ donor could be seen as an ethical act.

To that end, advocates of organ donation have mooted the idea of an opt-out system to replace the current procedure by which potential donors sign up to declare their consent. This would mean that the organ of all deceased bodies might be harvested unless the individual had previously expressly affirmed a wish to the contrary.

Assuming that most people do not sign up to be donors because of apathy rather than ethical, cultural or religious objection, the opt-out system would be a practical solution to the shortage of organs. Moreover, it would help combat the disturbing illicit trade in organs. It should not be that desperate patients in South Africa pay tens of thousands of rands for a working kidney.

South African law requires the consent of surviving family members before organs may be transplanted. It is therefore necessary that, apart from registering, potential donors 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.

It should not need stating that those who have not already registered as donors should procrastinate no longer. Being able to give another person life after one�s death is a substantial pro-life act, made in solidarity with the suffering.

We therefore 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.