American College of Physicians reminds doctors that organ harvesting is not their primary duty

‘It is unethical, before the declaration of death, to use any treatments or interventions aimed at preserving organs … that may harm the still-living patient.’

Acknowledging recent controversies in organ transplantation, the world’s largest medical specialty organization, the American College of Physicians (ACP) has just published a new position paper on transplant ethics.This paper reminds physicians that patient care is their primary duty, and that end-of-life decision making must center around the best interests of these individual patients — not the interests of other people who might benefit from their organs. “It is unethical, before the declaration of death, to use any treatments or interventions aimed at preserving organs or assessing their suitability for donation that may harm the still-living patient by causing pain, causing traumatic injury, or shortening the patient’s life.”

The ACP references examples of interventions that are currently being used to optimize organs for transplantation while the prospective organ donor is still alive: interventions the ACP deems unethical. For example, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons’ “best practices” in donation after circulatory death (DCD) organ procurement recommends (for the benefit of the organs) inserting arterial catheters into prospective organ donors, and administering 30,000 units of the blood thinner heparin intravenously prior to withdrawing the donor’s life-sustaining care. Not only is the insertion of arterial catheters painful, but this amount of heparin far exceeds the usual dose and could potentially exacerbate the patient’s injuries.

Also, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, and Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, in their consensus statement, “Management of the Potential Organ Donor in the ICU,” recommended that bronchoscopy be performed in all potential lung donors prior to donation. Since bronchoscopy involves putting a tube down the patient’s throat and into the lungs, it is an uncomfortable procedure. Moreover, it is being done, not for the benefit of the patient, but for the benefit of the possible lung recipient. This too would seem to violate the new ACP ethics policy.

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Read Full Article Here…(lifesitenews.com)

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