Doctors harvesting organs from Canadian patients who underwent medically assisted death
Sharon Kirkey
March 20, 2017 3:54 PM ET
National Post (excerpted)Doctors have already harvested organs from dozens of Canadians who underwent medically assisted death, a practice supporters say expands the pool of desperately needed organs, but ethicists worry could make it harder for euthanasia patients to voice a last-minute change of heart.
In Ontario, 26 people who died by lethal injection have donated tissue or organs since the federal law decriminalizing medical assistance in dying, or MAID, came into effect last June, according to information obtained by the Post. A total of 338 have died by medical assistance in the province.
Most of the 26 were tissue donors, which usually involves eyes, skin, heart valves, bones and tendons.
Bioethicists and transplant experts say people who qualify for assisted dying deserve to be offered the chance to donate their organs. The gesture could bring a profound sense of psychological comfort, they say, provided the request for assisted death and the decision to donate are kept entirely separate. ...
The issue is so volatile, after Fortin and her co-author concluded organ donation after assisted dying would be ethically acceptable if the person is competent and under no pressure to choose either, for those opposed to euthanasia, “it was like we were vultures,” she said.
“I think it’s really important we keep the public’s trust, in all of this,” Fortin said. “We have to be transparent. And it has to be clear that the two must be kept separate, that there is no pressure to go for MAID to procure organs.”
Organ harvesting after euthanasia is already a reality in Belgium and the Netherlands.
I find it interesting that Canada has no problem getting the drugs for lethal injection for "euthanasia" patients but U.S. states have trouble getting what they need to execute convicted murderers.
