up button
OrganFacts.net

The truth behind
organ donation
& transplants

The truth behind organ donation & transplants


      OrganFacts.net  … Wait for the Lord; take courage and He will give strength to your heart; yes, wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)



 © OrganFacts.net

… The truth behind organ donation & organ transplants

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Carina Melchior

Carina Melchior , a 19 year old student, suffered severe injuries after crashing her car. Doctors said she would soon be “brain dead” and convinced her family to consent to organ donation. But, as doctors gathered around her bed to prep her for organ donation, she suddenly opened her eyes and moved her legs. Now she is making a full recovery. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Steven Thorpe

Steven Thorpe , 17 year old Warwickshire youth, was declared “brain dead” by four doctors, but his parents did not give up on him, and insisted on another opinion from an independent GP and a neurosurgeon. Steven made an unexpected recovery and left hospital alive seven weeks later. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Zach Dunlap

Zach Dunlap , a 21 year old Oklahoma man, was “feeling pretty good” four months after he was diagnosed as “brain dead”. Ironically, Zach heard the doctors pronounce him dead, but was unable to do anything about it. A few days later, he revived and spoke to his family. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Sam Schmid

Sam Schmid , a 21 year old Arizona college student, was critically wounded in a five-car accident. Surgeons thought he had no hope of recovery and broached organ donation with his family. Sam was poised to ‘donate’ his vital organs, when he suddenly emerged from a coma. He has since had rehabilitation and walks with the aid of a walker. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Val Thomas

Val Thomas , 59 year old West Virginia woman, came back to life, after being clinically “brain dead” for 17 hours. Attempts to revive her after a heart attack had failed, and doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead”. Later “she moved her arm, coughed and asked for her son.” ... she was alive. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Gloria Cruz

Gloria Cruz , 56 year old Northern Territory woman, was declared “brain dead” and expected to ‘die’ within 48 hours. A doctor, a social worker and a ‘patient advocate’ urged her husband to remove the ventilator and let her ‘die’. But he refused and 3 days later, Gloria revived, awoke from her coma and was getting around hospital in a wheelchair. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Madeleine Gauron

Madeleine Gauron , a 76 year old Quebec woman, was diagnosed by medical staff as “brain dead”, with no hope of recovery. Doctors asked if the family would agree to organ donation, but the family asked for more medical tests. The next day, astonishingly, she awakened and sat up in bed and ate yogurt. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Rae Kupferschmidt

Rae Kupferschmidt , 65 year old Minnesota woman, suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage and doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead”. She was taken home to die and her family began making funeral arrangements. When Rae spontaneously sucked an ice cube offered by her daughter, she was found to be alive. She later walked. [more]

WAS
NOT
DEAD

Suzanne Chin

Suzanne Chin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed into unconsciousness. Taken to hospital, she remained in a coma and the head of ICU, two neurologists & a cardiologist said she was brain-dead with no hope of recovery. But her husband refused to turn of her life support. 3 days later, Suzanne revived & is now well & very much ALIVE. [more]

An extract

Brain Death is a Recent Invention

by Dr David W Evans

EDITOR —Your explicit recognition that “brain death” is a recent invention for transplant purposes is most welcome and should do much to expose the fallacies and fudgings associated with this supposed new form of death, which have been hidden from public and professional view for far too long. (1)

The review to which you refer notes the cultural emphasis of Margaret Lock’s study. (2) More detailed consideration of the philosophical and scientific aspects will be found in the anthology by Potts et al, which was not available to Lock when she was writing. (3) Since then, thanks to the excellent rapid response facility provided by bmj.com, the most significant development has been the wide dissemination of knowledge about the dangers of the apnoea test (which is a crucial element in the schedule of tests laid down by the Department of Health for the diagnosis of “brain stem death” or “death for transplant purposes”). Thanks, particularly, to the work of Coimbra, it is now clear that apnoea testing may exacerbate the brain damage and even prove lethal. (4) That being so, and bearing in mind that the test can be of no possible therapeutic benefit to the patient so tested, its use is clearly unethical.…



References

1. Editor’s choice. Deep fears. BMJ 2002;324(7348). (8 June.)

2. Gray C. “Twice dead: organ transplants and the reinvention of death” by Margaret Lock [reviewed] BMJ. 2002;324:1401.

3. Potts M, Byrne PA, Nilges R, editors. Beyond brain death—the case against brain based criteria for human death. Dordrecht: Kluwer; 2000.

4. Coimbra CG. Implications of ischemic penumbra for the diagnosis of brain death. Braz J Med Biol Res. 1999;32:1479–1487. [PubMed]

(Extract from “Brain death is a recent invention”, David W Evans, retired physician, BMJ. 2002 September 14; 325(7364): 598. Viewed Dec 18, 2010 at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1124114/ )