A group of Belgian doctors are harvesting
“high quality” organs from patients who have been euthanased. This is
not a
secret project, but one which they described openly at a conference
organised
by the Belgian Royal Medical Academy in December.
In a
PowerPoint
presentation, Dirk Ysebaert, Dirk Van Raemdonck, Michel Meurisse, of
the University Hospitals Of Antwerp, Leuven And Liège, showed that about
20% of
the 705 people who died through euthanasia (officially) in 2008 were
suffering
from neuromuscular disorders whose organs are relatively high quality
for
transplanting to other patients. This represents a useful pool of organs
which
could help to remedy a shortage of organs in Belgium (as everywhere
else).
It is not clear from the presentation how
many patients participated in their scheme. However, in
a
2008 report, Belgian doctors explained that three patients had been
euthanased between 2005 and 2007 and had agreed to donate their organs.
Euthanasia for organ transplant is a bit different
from normal euthanasia, the doctors say, because they prefer that
patients die
in hospital rather than at home.
They have developed a protocol for the
procedure. There has to be a strict separation between the euthanasia
request,
the euthanasia procedure, and the organ procurement. The donor and his
(or her) relatives have
to consent. The euthanasia is performed by a neurologist or psychiatrist
and
two house physicians. Organ retrieval begins after clinical diagnosis of
death
by the three physicians. And, of course, staff participation is
voluntary. ~ thanks
to
Carinne Brochier, of l'Institut
Européen
de Bioéthique, in Brussels.
