"Vultures" Doesn't Even Describe It!!

From MSNBC News:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20750207

Quote from page 2:

In many hospitals, organ network representatives now routinely comb through patients' records looking for potential donors.

"It's like they're vultures flying around the hospitals hovering over beds waiting for them to die so they can grab the organs," said Michael Grodin, a Boston University bioethicist. "That's the impression you get sometimes."

In some cases, OPO representatives request tests, such as HIV screening, of a patient without obtaining family members' consent, or ask doctors to administer blood pressure drugs or other medication to keep a possible donor's organs viable until their suitability can be determined and the family consent can be obtained.

(End of quote)

Do you know what? I refuse HIV screening every time it is "offered" and I certainly wouldn't want it done against my will no matter how close to death I am. What if I miraculously recovered? Here my HIV status WOULD be forwarded on to the "appropriate agencies" and I would be tracked for life. I would rather die. I really would. I would rather die than live with HIV.

The article goes on to relate that at many hospitals, the procedure is now to alert these organ procurement people when they have a likely donor... and by "likely donor" we don't mean someone who has signed up to be a donor beforehand... we mean someone who is likely to DIE.

I think it's a supreme wrong to have these hospitals allow these "organ procurement" folks to dress in the same colour scrubs as the staff and speak to the patient's families about organ donation as if they were members of the staff at the hospital... as if they were CARING for the PATIENT. Oh, the ruse is so that we don't unduly alarm the patient's family or further traumatize them...

Do you know what? Until the moment of death the focus should remain entirely on the patient and what the family wants to do for a course of treatment. The hospital staff should have the decency and courtesy to ASK the family if they would like to speak to someone about organ donation, once and only once. No fair asking 20 times or leaving a million brochures upon every visit to the patient's family.

I know people whose lives were saved by organ donations. I know what a difference it makes in their lives, or even how it makes life possible past a certain point. The ends do NOT justify the means though. I don't know of any family, however, that felt pressured into this sort of a decision that later came out to say they were very glad to be treated this way for the "greater good."