Brain Death and Organ Donation in Children and Adults

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Recommended: Ethical issues in organ donation

Brain Death and Organ Donation in Children and Adults

Introduction

Does one try to save a premature baby who has little chance of survival? When do doctors or family members decide to "pull the plug" on a loved one? When is organ donation the correct choice? Is this patient the one on which God will choose to perform a miracle? What about a postmortem delivery? Is it realistic to be able to have a child postmortem?

These questions are difficult for any of us to answer - even more so if we are dealing with a situation in which we may have to answer one or more of these questions. Yet, for some of us, these questions are all too real. If someone is considered to be in a vegetative state and the doctor determines that they are not coming back, when do family members decide to let go? When do family members give up hope?

These questions can only be answered once a person is faced with a situation where he or she needs to determine another's fate. All of the answers to the questions are personal answers and no one should judge another person for making a choice in a difficult situation. Decisions regarding organ donation and when an unconscious person has died or experienced brain death are very difficult decisions for the family to make, even with the help of medical professionals.

Organ donation started in 1869 and since then the procedure has improved but doctors with unethical practices still, and always will, exist. After all of the improvements in adult organ donation, questions still remain about organ donation and anencephalic infants. Should these infants be treated as human beings, should they be allowed to donate their organs? What happens to any infant whose mother dies before delivery of the child?

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Works Cited

Ackerman, Terrence. A Casebook of Medical Ethics. New York:Oxford UP, 1989.

Gorman, Christine. "Are Animal Organs Safe for People." Time. 15 January 1996.

Henderson, Allen. Get With It-Teen Perspectives on Donation. The Indiana Heart Institute. 1994.

Humber, James M. Biomedical Ethics and the Law. 2nd Edition. New York: Plenum, 1979.

Koukl, Gregory. "Babies as Organ Farms". L.A. Times. 8 June 1995.

Lamb, David. Death, Brain Death and Ethics. Albany:New York UP, 1985.

Mason, JK. Human Life and Medical Practice. Great Britain:Edinburgh UP, 1988.

Neufeldt, Victoria. Webster's New World Dictionary. 3rd Edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 1991.

Pothier, Richard. "Animal Tests Saved My Life." Newsweek. 1 February 1993.

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