Organ Theft
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:12 am
I write this poised to leap out from my third floor bedroom window and land dangerously on a plump woman and her young brood. For we live in a world of abounding sorrows. Down shall I go and splatter my tiny brain on her bright floral dress. Ask not dear reader for whom the siren sounds.
A thought experiment: A young orphan girl falls sick. Her kidneys are failing owing to a rare genetic disorder. And she has no relatives to donate a spare kidney. Her chances of being a recipient of an organ transplant are discouraging because there are not enough registered donors. You, the treating physician, find out that a man is coming in for a knee surgery shortly. He matches the girl’s blood type. You observe from a patient questionnaire that he completed when he registered with the hospital that he is not an organ donor and never intends to be.
This revelation, far from sinking your heart, presents a happy opportunity because if the fellow will not permit a surgeon to ever tamper with his organs, then should you raid his extra kidney during his knee operation he will never cotton on to the fact that he’s one kidney lighter and you will have saved a life without impairing his.
My friend has found himself in just such a position. What should he do?
A thought experiment: A young orphan girl falls sick. Her kidneys are failing owing to a rare genetic disorder. And she has no relatives to donate a spare kidney. Her chances of being a recipient of an organ transplant are discouraging because there are not enough registered donors. You, the treating physician, find out that a man is coming in for a knee surgery shortly. He matches the girl’s blood type. You observe from a patient questionnaire that he completed when he registered with the hospital that he is not an organ donor and never intends to be.
This revelation, far from sinking your heart, presents a happy opportunity because if the fellow will not permit a surgeon to ever tamper with his organs, then should you raid his extra kidney during his knee operation he will never cotton on to the fact that he’s one kidney lighter and you will have saved a life without impairing his.
My friend has found himself in just such a position. What should he do?