{"id":2015,"date":"2011-06-22T08:59:15","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T12:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=2015"},"modified":"2011-06-24T11:57:07","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T15:57:07","slug":"study-says-transplants-from-mercy-killed-patients-do-better-than-donated-organs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/06\/study-says-transplants-from-mercy-killed-patients-do-better-than-donated-organs.html","title":{"rendered":"Belgium reports organs harvested from “mercy-killed” patients transplant better"},"content":{"rendered":"

The medical journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathology<\/em> reports that organs harvested from euthanized patients make better transplants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Euthanasia or “mercy killing”\u00a0is the practice of ending the lives of patients who are terminally ill and have no possibility of recovery. Proponents say it ends unnecessary suffering. Opponents say legalization is a slippery slope. In its most extreme, Nazi Germany put the mentally retarded to death since they did not contribute to society.<\/p>\n

Euthanisia is illegal in most of the United States, however is practiced in Belgium and some other countries. Abuses have been alleged where\u00a0the elderly were euthanized by heirs who, according to accusations, were unwilling\u00a0to wait for\u00a0death.<\/p>\n

“A\u00a0disturbing study conducted by Belgian doctors involved killing patients via euthanasia in a room next to the hospital\u2019s operating theater, and then wheeling them next door and harvesting their organs immediately after being pronounced dead,” writes Thaddeus Balinski\u00a0for the website LifeSiteNews.com, which opposes abortion as well as euthanasia. “The study found that lungs from those who die by euthanasia are more suitable for transplant surgery than lungs taken from accident victims.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Professor Van Raemdonck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Dirk Van Raemdonck from the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg was the leader of the study titled \u201cInitial Experience With Transplantation of Lungs Recovered From Donors After Euthanasia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The procedure involved admitting the donors to the hospital a few hours before the planned euthanasia procedure. They were killed in a room next door to the operating theater. Their lungs were removed immediately after they were pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

The report stated euthanized donors now account for 23.5 percent\u00a0of all cardiac death lung donors in Belgium.<\/p>\n

Are mercy-killing laws being abused in Europe? A\u00a02010 Canadian Medical Association report found that 20 percent of Belgian nurses interviewed by researchers had been involved in the euthanasia of a patient and reported that that\u00a0 120 of 248 admitted to participating in \u201cterminations without request or consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Peter Saunders of Care Not Killing, a UK-based alliance of disability and human rights organizations, said half of all euthanasia cases in Belgium are involuntary.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctors there,” said Dr. Saunders, “now do things that most doctors in other countries would find absolutely horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was shocked by the casual indifference of the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed at how nonchalantly the issue was dealt with as if killing patients and then harvesting their organs was the most natural thing in the world,\u201d he told the London Daily Telegraph. <\/em>\u201cThe matter of fact way the retrieval process is described in the paper is particularly chilling.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The medical journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathology reports that organs harvested from euthanized patients make better transplants. Euthanasia or “mercy killing”\u00a0is the practice of ending the lives of patients who are terminally ill and have no possibility of recovery. Proponents say it ends unnecessary suffering. Opponents say legalization is a slippery slope. In its most extreme,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,71],"tags":[260,440,441,261],"class_list":["post-2015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mercy-killing","category-news","tag-belgium","tag-euthanasia","tag-mercy-killing","tag-organ-transplant"],"yoast_head":"\nBelgium reports organs harvested from "mercy-killed" patients transplant better - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/06\/study-says-transplants-from-mercy-killed-patients-do-better-than-donated-organs.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belgium reports organs harvested from "mercy-killed" patients transplant better - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The medical journal Applied Cardiopulmonary Pathology reports that organs harvested from euthanized patients make better transplants. Euthanasia or “mercy killing”\u00a0is the practice of ending the lives of patients who are terminally ill and have no possibility of recovery. Proponents say it ends unnecessary suffering. Opponents say legalization is a slippery slope. 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