Giving away your organs sounds noble, but have doctors blurred the line between life and death?
The article below quotes Robert Truog,
professor of medical ethics, anesthesia and pediatrics at Harvard
Medical School, about the possible pain felt by an organ donor who has
been declared brain dead. Mr. Teresi writes that Dr. Truog “compared the
topic of pain in an organ donor to an argument over ‘whether it is OK
to kick a rock.’ ” A review of Mr. Teresi’s notes after the publication
of the essay reflects that Dr. Truog, when asked whether a donor feels
pain, said “it’s like kicking a rock.” Dr. Truog, however, denies that
he used the analogy. “I can tell you in the strongest possible terms
that I am certain I never said anything like this.” In a separate issue,
recipients of single-organ transplants—heart, intestine, kidney, liver,
single and double lung and pancreas—are charged an average $470,000,
ranging from $288,000 for a kidney transplant to $1.2 million for an
intestine transplant, according to consulting firm Milliman. A previous
version of this article incorrectly said that average recipients are
charged $750,000 for a transplant, and that at an average 3.3 organs,
that is more than $2 million per body. MORE: http://www.jbbardot.com/lose-sign-organ-donor-card-shocking/
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