Recently reviewing an essay on Organ Donation which I wrote in 1998,[1] I came across some thoughts on the definition personhood. How a “person” is defined plays a vital role in how we approach things like vital organ donation and assisted death. Our society is rapidly moving to a definition of personhood that connects a person’s intrinsic value to their ability to think. Those with less ability to think are considered to have less value and are more easily deemed expendable.… Read the rest
Category Archives: Organ Donation
Comments related to the ethics of organ donation
Organ Donation – Are Christians Inconsistent?
Recently I read a blog post by Christopher Bogosh[1] titled Fetal Body Parts, Brain-Dead Donors, and inconsistent Christians.[2] He writes,
While Christians are irate when it comes to abortion and fetal body parts, they are peculiarly silent when it comes to harvesting organs from brain-dead organ donors—Christians are gravely inconsistent concerning this matter.
Is this true that many Christians’ beliefs are inconsistent when it comes to their approach to organ donation?
Included in the argument Christopher writes,
… Read the restIf life begins at conception, or when the blastocyst attaches to the uterine wall, then life starts five to six weeks before the neurological system and brain develops.
How Are Breathing & Soul Connected? – Genesis 2:7
For the harvesting of vital organs from bodies that appear to be alive to be considered acceptable, it becomes important to be able to define a person as dead while their body is still “alive.” Taking of vital organs, necessarily, results in the death of the body. To harvest vital organs before a person is dead is not acceptable within biblical Christianity, since the Bible contains commands against killing. See blog posting Vital Organ Donation – The Most Important Question.… Read the rest
Personhood – Permissible Killing?
A friend commented on my posting titled, Personhood – Which Comes First Death of the Body or Departure of Soul?. In this posting I said that, so far, our society agrees that a person must be dead for vital organs to be taken. My friend pointed out that if a person is unresponsive and sure to die very soon, that there are people who do not have a problem with taking vital organs, even among Christians. Some will agree that this may result in the person dying sooner but will think that this in not really a problem because the person is going to die anyway. … Read the rest