wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] bruce July 27, 2009 - 10:16AM

  Hey Brian!!

  I thought the story was organ trafficking???

  
  
• [2] hjs from 11211 July 27, 2009 - 10:40AM

  20 minutes on this, really?

  
  
• [3] Robert Friedman from UWS July 27, 2009 - 10:46AM

  Orthodox Jews believe in organ donation and there is a whole organization devoted to this:

  http://www.hods.org/

  
  
• [4] Rabbi Josh Minkin from Brooklyn July 27, 2009 - 10:47AM

  I am a Reform rabbi whose wife had both a liver and kidney transplant. The misconception stems from a concept that many Jews particularly Orthodox have, that in order to be resurrected at the time of the Messiah, all of one's body parts must be buried along with the body or it will result in an incomplete resurrection.

  Saving a life is the highest commandment as your guest said, but only if it is clear that there is a good possibility that the life would be saved. Until about 10-15 years ago, Jewish law considered transplants experimental and the law of honoring the dead took precedence. Current Halachah (law) mostly agrees that Pikuah Nefesh saving a life through a transplant takes precedence over the Kavod Hamayt (honoring of the dead).

  Rabbi Minkin

  
  
• [5] Matt from UWS July 27, 2009 - 10:50AM

  One of the major problems with this entire organ donation discussion is that it hasn't referenced a major factor -- Jewish law blesses donation only when there is a sick person on hand. Otherwise it is considered a violation of the deceased's corpse. And when you sign a standard organ donation form you sign away your rights to determine how your organs will be used. In a specific number of cases there is a match between the deceased and the patient awaiting a transplanted organ. But there are even more cases when the organs are not suitable yet they are harvested any way for "scientific research" or for medical students' dissection. Jewish law sees a big difference between those uses and there are really no protections built in to the organ harvesting industry.

  
  
• [6] Tommy from Astoria July 27, 2009 - 10:51AM

  There was an interesting story on This American Life on a woman coordinating organ donations a while ago:

  http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1278

  
  
• [7] Rabbi Josh Minkin from Brooklyn July 27, 2009 - 10:52AM

  Medically, I believe that live donors are preferred to after death for survival reasons.

  
  
• [8] Jeanette from Brooklyn July 27, 2009 - 10:56AM

  After visiting Israel myself a year ago, I discovered that the vast majority of Jews there are secular. If the donation rate is 8% there, is this really a religious issue?

  
  
• [9] Cory from Crown Point, NY July 27, 2009 - 10:56AM

  Brian -- Have you gone nuts? Harvesting organs from living people who are going to die soon may or may not be unethical, but it sure is illegal. If it ends the victim's life it is called Second Degree Murder in NY. BTW, my mother was given hours to live several months ago did not oblige. She is still alive.

  
  
• [10] a July 27, 2009 - 10:59AM

  If you can survive without a kidney when you're alive, why can't you survive without a kidney after you've been ressurected ?

  
  
• [11] jess from Brooklyn July 27, 2009 - 11:00AM

  I have no problem with donating an organ while alive, as long as I feel some connection to the person in need. However, I can't help but feel that donating an organ during the death process might be disruptive to one of the most important moments in a person's life- the transition to death. Can we be sure that a person is truly dead when the organs are harvested?

  Desecrating the body is a strong phrase but I do worry that we are turning humans into useful body parts rather than finding other means of healing sick organs or creating artificial ones.

  
  
• [12] Ruth from Manhattan July 27, 2009 - 11:01AM

  Orthodox Jews also only want to donate organs to other Orthodox Jews.

  That's not really nice, is it?

  I'm sure other groups feel that way, too.

  My group doesn't. I'm a citizen of the world.

  
  
• [13] Matt from UWS July 27, 2009 - 11:02AM

  I worked a reputable Center for Bioethics a number of years ago (name withheld for obvious reasons) where I overheard a chilling discussion about whether they should blow the whistle on the practice of jumping the gun on calling patients dead so they could harvest the organs. The discussants were all credentialed doctors and PhDs and had first-hand knowledge of these practices. As far as I know, nothing ever was done.

  I have no idea what the situation is like today.

  
  
• [14] Shaviv from Rutgers in New Jersey July 27, 2009 - 11:04AM

  In Jewish law there is a rule about preserving life; the rule says that almost any other commandment may be waived in pursuit of saving a life. The only actual prohibitions are against sexual crimes, murder and idolatry (whatever that actually is).

  "Desecrating" a human body to retrieve organs or tissues, or perform autopsy, is perfectly acceptable if there is an expectation that the materials or information derived from this indignity to the dead may help save lives. There isn't much of a halachic issue except, as one of the guests said, the question of when death occurs - is brain-death enough, or must the heart stop? That's where the interesting discussion is.

  
  
• [15] Shannon Kelly from Yonkers, NY July 27, 2009 - 11:05AM

  Thank you for covering this important issue! Organ donors MUST be brain dead, which means dead. One can be brain dead and still on support, keeping the organs oxygenated for a short time.

  There is absolutely no chance that medical treatment will be compromised for organ donors. No organs can be donated until the person is dead. A separate medical team arrives AFTER the person is dead. The doctors and nurses who treated the patient while alive are not involved, to avoid even the appearance of conflicts.

  Thanks again for investigating this issue further.

  
  
• [16] hjs from 11211 July 27, 2009 - 11:06AM

  a

  great point.

  and why won't god just take a kidney from some sinner who he doesn't want to resurrect? can god resurrect just a kidney?

  
  
• [17] jeff July 27, 2009 - 11:26AM

  There's a group mentioned friday Halachic (jewish legal) Organ Donation Society, hods.org who has lined up a lot of orthodox rabbis in support and actively tries to increase donation rates in the jewish community and fight the misconceptions (they give presentations to jewish groups, etc.)

  
  
• [18] avi from NJ July 27, 2009 - 08:51PM

  Waiting for the respond of the Hospitals

  
  
• [19] Esther Nussbaum from New York City July 28, 2009 - 01:47PM

  The Halachic Organ Donor Society (HODS) educates Jews that Jewish law endorses organ donation based on the highest commandment of saving a life. Our website www.hods.org includes documents and videos supporting it. More than 200 rabbis and thousands of Jews carry our organ donor card.

  The illegal and often abusive trafficking in organs is the unfortunate result of society's refusal to respond to the desperate need of ill people. Perhaps the current spotlight on the scandalous practixes by organ merchants will spur the necessary attention this subject requires.

  
  
• [20] Don July 28, 2009 - 02:21PM

  Minkin, you know nothing about Orthodox beliefs. Orthodox do believe that the people who were burnt killed in the holocaust, will be resurrected at the time of the Messiah, even though they were dismembered. However, the definition of when one is considered dead is whats in question.