The Blood of the Living – The Blood of the Dead.

If we accept that it is wrong to kill a person to harvest organs, then a person must be considered dead for organ harvesting to proceed.  But, for organs to be useful blood must be circulating through the organs pretty well right up until organ harvesting begins.

In the Bible there is a distinction between the blood of someone who is alive and the blood of a dead man.   Revelation 16:3 reads,

And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man (Revelation 16:3a, NKJV)

In this verse, the Bible compares something to “the blood of a dead man.”  The fact that the Bible makes this comparison indicates that there is something distinct about the blood of a dead man.  If there is something distinct about the blood of a dead man, then there is also something distinct about the blood of a live man, at least to the extent that it is not like the blood of a dead man.  We can learn something more about the blood of a dead man by considering Jesus after he has died on the cross.

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.  And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. (John 19:30-35, NKJV)

After Jesus was dead,  when a spear was trust in His side water and blood came out.  Today we know that as soon as blood stops flowing it starts clotting.  The blood cells clump together, leaving straw coloured watery serum.  In bible times this is described as water and blood.  A live man’s blood is always moving through the blood vessels and has blood cells evenly distributed throughout the serum and carries oxygen, nutrients and carbon dioxide.  A dead man’s blood has stopped moving and is separated into serum and clotted cells and has lost the ability to carry oxygen.

Based on the distinction between the blood of a live man and the blood of dead man, organs are only useful when they have the blood of a live man flowing through them at the time of organ harvesting.   Organ harvesting, unless we accept killing to get organs, requires that the person be declared dead while at the same time the blood of a live man flow through the blood vessels.  Can a dead man have the blood of a live man flowing though him?