Legislation not answer to organ donation

Re: Negative optioning for organ donation

S.P. Dixit - Woodstock

February 27, 2006

The earliest recorded (mythological) human transplant was performed in 4th century AD, when the twin saints, St. Cosmos and St. Damian transplanted a leg from a black slave (a moor) to the ulcerated leg of a white man. When the slave died, the leg fell off. The two saints were beheaded in 303 AD for being an un-orthodox nuisance. There is a painting in Italy depicting the scene.

MPP Peter Kormos from Welland-St. Catharines is introducing a private member's bill at Queen's Park for legislating the harvesting of organs from dead bodies who do not have any documentation the contrary.

As stated, in the Feb. 20 editorial of your newspaper, it is a form of consent, in absence of any contradiction.

There is a law in the books regarding the removal of pituitary glands at the time of post-mortem examination, if there are no instructions to the contrary. A similar law also exists in Manitoba. Pituitary gland was the only reliable source of human growth hormone, but now the hormone can also be produced without the pituitary gland.

Death is always an most emotionally-charged period.

Sure, if consent for donation has been obtained in advance, it becomes easier for the next of kin, who still have the rights to the disposal of the body. A living will helps.

We live in the era of spare parts surgery. Practically, most parts of the body can be transplanted into another individual under appropriate conditions. Perhaps, the easiest and most successful transplantation, which we take for, granted, is blood transfusion, which is carried out in most hospitals and saves life. Kidney, liver, intestines, heart, lung, cornea of the eyes, skin and bones, can all be transplanted under appropriate conditions, with benefit to the recipient - the latest, being the facial (skin) transplant in France.

We have enough problems with the violation of dignity of living human beings.

Do we have to subject dead bodies to assault only because its owner did not indicate his or her views before death?

It is an emotionally-charged issue, where education and persuasion will work better than legislation.

Copyright © 2006 Woodstock Sentinel-Review.

This article posted March 19, 2006.