BOLEHKAH SAYA MENJUAL ATAU MEMBELI ORGAN?

Malaysia adalah antara 78 buah negara yang menyertai Deklarasi Istanbul pada tahun 2008. Deklarasi ini antara lain menekankan larangan penjualan atau pembelian organ serta lawatan transplan yang disebut sebagai melanggar prinsip ekuiti, keadilan serta maruah insan.

Oleh yang demikian, sebarang penjualan dan pembelian adalah dilarang sama sekali dan dikira sebagai melanggar undang-undang.

Daftar sebagai pengikrar : www.dermaorgan.gov.my

#dermaorgan
#KKMjomikrar
#MKPO2015

Man's gift of love to girlfriend - a kidney

Original post from TheStar.com.my

Ng, a taxi driver, and Ms Chua, a part-time cashier, have applied for a flat and plan to marry in the next two years.ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM.

SINGAPORE: Ng Chai Lai dated his girlfriend for six years before popping the question in 2013. But instead of a marriage proposal, he offered her the gift of life - one of his kidneys.

Back then, Chua Bee Leng had been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant for 10 years after an autoimmune disease caused her kidneys to fail in 2004.

"I thought he was joking. I had already given up hope of receiving a kidney, as my family members were unsuitable. Who would have thought a boyfriend would do that?" said Chua, 47.

The transplant was done in December 2013. Such transplants, between people who are not family members, are few and far between.

The transplant was nothing less than a miracle due to three factors, said Ng, 47, a taxi driver.

First, the doctor told them that should they have wanted a transplant a few years earlier, it would not have been possible. Both had different blood types and it was only recent medical advancements that enabled the transplant to proceed.

Second, Ng was a former drug abuser who had been behind bars for close to 20 years. He first met Chua while undergoing rehabilitation at a halfway house, as she was visiting her brother, who was then also a drug addict.

Due to Ng's history of drug abuse, he had to get the nod from the authorities and a transplant ethics committee, as well as go through a battery of tests, before the transplant was approved.

Third, doctors found that one of Chua's coronary arteries was blocked and she needed heart bypass surgery before the transplant.

But the couple were willing to go through the obstacles as Chua had been in great pain while on dialysis. Several operations had to be done to create a fistula in her arms, legs, neck and thigh for blood to enter and leave her body during dialysis.

Serious infections kept setting in and she had to be hospitalised almost weekly. Ng recalled that her screams of pain were so loud that everyone in the ward could hear them. After her thrice-weekly dialysis sessions, she would be so weak that she could not walk home.

"The doctor said she did not have much time left and I made up my mind to give my kidney to her.

"I figured that even if my health fails after that, better to have two of us around for that short span of time than me having two kidneys yet end up losing her," said Ng.

Chua's quality of life improved greatly after the transplant.

She is now able to work as a part-time cashier. In her downtime, she jogs slowly or does brisk walking. Ng also recovered quickly. He said being a donor has not affected his health at all.

Both of them have since applied for a flat in Bukit Batok and intend to marry in the next two years.

Said Chua: "He made a noble sacrifice and I am forever indebted and grateful. Life is no longer the same now."

Pengagihan & Senarai Menunggu Transplan

Senarai Menunggu

Organ dan tisu daripada penderma selepas kematian akan dipindahkan kepada pesakit yang sesuai menurut senarai menunggu organ kebangsaan. Terdapat senarai menunggu yang berlainan untuk setiap organ yang boleh didermakan di Malaysia.

Mana-mana pesakit yang mengalami kegagalan organ tahap akhir akan dimasukkan ke dalam senarai menunggu sekiranya mereka didapati sesuai untuk menjalani transplantasi organ. Malangnya, pada masa kini terdapat lebih daripada 20,000 pesakit yang sedang menunggu untuk menjalani pemindahan organ dan jumlah ini semakin meningkat saban tahun.

Pengagihan Organ

Kesemua organ dan tisu yang didermakan akan diagihkan secara adil dan telus berdasarkan kriteria yang ditetapkan. Kriteria tersebut mengambil kira :

• kesesuaian penderma dan penerima melalui kumpulan darah dan saiz tubuh badan
• keutamaan berdasarkan status klinikal semasa (clinical urgency & status)
• tempoh dalam senarai menunggu
• kes-kes khusus seperti keadaan pesakit yang mempunyai antibodi darah yang tinggi dan faktor lojistik
• kewujudan penyakit comorbid yang lain

Seseorang pesakit yang sedang menunggu organ mempunyak hak untuk menolak organ atau tisu yang diagihkan melalui sistem agihan organ kebangsaan. Walaubagaimanapun, beliau akan dikeluarkan daripada senarai menunggu tersebut kecuali dalam keadaan tertentu. Pesakit perlu memohon untuk dimasukkan kembali ke dalam senarai tersebut.

KENALI organ anda!

Organ manusia adalah anugerah yang tidak ternilai harganya yang dikurniakan oleh maha pencipta. Organ-organ ini tersembunyi di dalam tubuh kita, menjalankan peranannya dengan patuh sejak hari pertama kita ditiupkan nyawa tanpa kita sedari kewujudannya.

"Yang ada ini sudah harapan kita." - Hamka

Kebanyakan orang gagal menghargai fungsi organ. Mungkin kerana kurang pengetahuan atau kesedaran. Sebahagian mereka melakukan perkara-perkara yang menjejaskan kesihatan organ seperti merokok, menyalah-gunakan dadah, minum minuman beralkohol secara berlebihan dan sebagainya. Hanya apabila organ mengalami kegagalan fungsi, barulah sebahagian mereka sedar betapa penting dan bernilainya organ yang diberikan percuma itu. Malah organ di dalam tubuh kita ini lebih berharga dari harta, wang dan pangkat. Apalah gunanya harta, wang dan pangkat tanpa organ yang berfungsi untuk menikmatinya. Mungkin inilah maksud disebalik ungkapan Prof. Hamka, "Yang ada ini sudah harapan kita."

Kenali organ anda..!

Dengan mengenali organ dan fungsi-fungsinya, sedikit sebanyak kita dapat menghargai organ dan berusaha menjaga kesihatan selain meninggalkan atau mengurangkan amalan yang menjejaskan kesihatan tubuh. Kenali empat organ yang juga boleh didermakan selepas kematian.

Q&A : Can we set a certain criteria for the people who will received our organ?

Question : I had signed up for organ donation

However both me and my wife are wondering if we can set certain criteria as to the type of people that get our organs?

Nothing complicated, just

1. Race/ religion 

2. Age perhaps 

Also , would the next of kin be made aware on who got the organ ? 

Thank you.

Answer :

Organ donation is basically an altruistic, non-biased and non discriminating charity program. It instils the culture of respect, understanding, love and care for one another, regardless of age, skin colour, social status or religion. Since the inception of Deceased Organ Donation in this country, we have seen many successful interracial, interreligion and even internation life saving transplantation. Life saving transplantation will only be a failure if organ and tissue allocation is based upon social status, religion or even skin colour.

Thus the Malaysian organ and tissue allocation is strictly based upon the dire need and clinical condition of the recipient (in which those who are declared in need of an organ replacement by a clinical consultant, will be listed in the national recipient registry). We do not accept any conditional request a.k.a to only donate to certain group of people based upon religion, skin colour or social status.

As for the second question, during the organ donation discussion with family members, we will routinely ask whether they would like to know the outcome of transplantation and the recipients of the organ. If they agree to be informed, we shall reinforce that we will only be able to inform them of the age, origin of the recipient and the disease and duration that was suffered by the recipient. Nothing more. This is to protect the privacy of the organ recipient and help maintain harmony between both sides.

I can reassure you that family members of the donor are floored to hear the news that the donor and even themselves have managed to save another persons’ life. No words can express the feeling felt by the family members and our team at that point. i hope I answered your question.

Autonomous medical drones will soon transport emergency organ donations

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The drones we have today do everything from deliver packages to provide surveillance footage, but now we're getting closer to something that could even save someone's life. 

EHang, the company with the first autonomous drone on the market capable of transporting a human, has just sealed a deal that will use the drones to transfer donated organs to people in emergency situations.

SEE ALSO: Get ready for a drone you can play games with

Pharmaceuticals and lung transplant tech company Lung Biotechnology PBC is acquiring up to 1,000 of EHang's autonomous drones for its Manufactured Organ Transport vehicle system (MOTH). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lung Biotechnology will use an advanced version of the EHang 184 drone revealed in January.

The collaboration between the two companies will span up to 15 years and will involve the drones executing pre-programmed flight plans to hospitals and recharging pads strategically located to ensure that organs are delivered while still viable for transplantation. 

"We anticipate delivering hundreds of organs a day, which means that the MOTH system will help save not only tens of thousands of lives, but also many millions of gallons of aviation transport gasoline annually," said Martine Rothblatt, CEO of Lung Biotechnology in a statement sent to Mashable. 

No date has been given for when the first flights will take place, but as the partnership aggressively ramps up toward regular service, medical drones could hit the skies before delivery drones become ubiquitous. If this collaboration works, it's not unrealistic to imagine automated ambulance drones transporting humans for common emergency hospital visits in the future. 

As if the autonomous drone part of the system wasn't innovative enough, on the ground, the transport tech will support the delivery of pig-to-human xenotransplantation and organs regenerated through through stem cells therapy.

Yes, the drone age is truly upon us.

Untuk apa kad ikrar?

Setiap pengikrar penderma organ yang berdaftar dengan Pusat Sumber Transplan Nasional akan diberikan sekeping kad hijau bertulis 'Saya Sudah Berikrar'. Apakah fungsi kad ini dan mengapa penting untuk pengikrar menyimpannya dengan cermat?

Bukti telah berikrar

Kad ikrar derma organ adalah dokumen penting yang membuktikan bahawa individu tersebut telah berikrar. Kad berkenaan boleh diperlihatkan kepada ahli keluarga dan rakan-rakan bagi menzahirkan kesungguhan dan keazaman kita untuk mendermakan organ selepas kematian. Ini penting bagi meyakinkan orang yang terdekat dengan kita mengenai kesediaan kita untuk memberi anugerah kehidupan kepada mereka yang memerlukan.

Menjaga kesihatan

Hanya organ yang sihat dan dalam keadaan baik sahaja yang akan didermakan. Justeru, sekiranya seseorang bersungguh-sungguh ingin membantu, maka akan timbul rasa kepentingan menjaga kesihatan dan mengelakkan dari sebarang penyakit. Kad ikrar berfungsi untuk mengingatkan pemegangnya akan hal berkenaan.

Keizinan

Ini adalah fungsi paling kritkal. Apabila sudah tidak bernyawa, maka apa yang ditinggalkan akan bercakap bagi pihak si mati. Kad ikrar derma organ bertindak sebagai wakil si mati yang akan menyuarakan keazaman si mati untuk mendermakan organnya. Oleh yang demikian, amat penting bagi pengikrar membawa kad ikrar mereka ke mana sahaja, bimbang sekiranya sesuatu berlaku dan kad tersebut tiada di situ untuk menjalankan peranannya.

Selain itu, pada kad ikrar derma organ juga terdapat maklumat-maklumat berkaitan seperti laman web, talian bebas tol dan sosial media kesedaran derma organ yang boleh diakses untuk mendapatkan informasi-informasi penting berhubung pendermaan organ.

Old Toys Get New Parts to Teach Kids About Organ Donation

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A torn arm or a missing ear is the sign of a well-loved stuffed animal. But for kids looking to extend their toys' lives even longer, a company in Japan is performing toy transplants using parts from donated plushies, Rocket News 24 reports. The best part is that it aims to teach kids about organ transplants at the same time.

It's estimated that just 10 percent of the global need for organ donation is being met. In Japan, where only 300 out of 14,000 people on a waiting list will receive a transplant, things look even more dismal than they do in most developed countries. Japanese children waiting for a donation face their own list of challenges to overcome.

In an effort to spark conversation around this important topic, the company Second Life Toys is inviting kids to send them their beaten-up stuffed animals. Toys in need of fixing are matched with a donor, and the donated toy's part is then transplanted to the recipient, making them look even better than they did before. You can check out some examples of the reborn creations below, and if you'd like to donate an old toy of your own you can visit their website.

Mati Otak : Apa dan mengapa?

Mati otak berlaku apabila tiada aliran darah yang membawa oksigen ke dalam otak termasuk pangkal otak yang mengawal sistem pernafasan dan denyutan jantung. Ini boleh terjadi akibat kecederaan ataupun pendarahan dalam kepala yang teruk menyebabkan otak menjadi bengkak.

Rosak, bengkak dan mati

Oleh kerana otak berada di dalam rangka kepala yang keras, apabila otak bengkak atau pendarahan dalam kepala yang teruk berlaku, tekanan di dalam kepala akan meningkat dengan mendadak. Ini boleh menjejaskan lagi pengaliran darah yang membawa oksigen ke otak. Tanpa oksigen, otak akan bertambah rosak dan bengkak sehingga akhirnya otak akan mati.

Pesakit yang mati otak tidak mempunyai tindakbalas dan tidak bernafas tetapi oleh kerana bantuan pernafasan diberi dengan mesin (ventilator) jantungnya masih berfungsi buat seketika. Kematian otak menyebabkan organ-organ yang lain akan turut mengalami kerosakan dan akhirnya jantung akan berhenti.

Mati otak = kematian

Oleh yang demikian, apabila pesakit disahkan mati otak oleh dua orang doktor pakar yang bertauliah melalui dua ujian yang berasingan , ini bermakna pesakit tersebut telah pun meninggal dunia dan mesin pernafasan akan diberhentikan. Ujian pengesahan yang dijalankan adalah mengikut protokol yang diguna pakai di seluruh dunia dan doktor pakar yang mengesahkan kematian otak tidak mempunyai kaitan dengan bidang transplan.

SOAL Jawab : Ada tak bekalan / stok organ di hospital untuk didermakan kepada kawan bapa saya?

Soalan : Adakah terdapat bekalan / stok simpanan organ di hospital untuk ditransplankan / didermakan kepada kawan bapa saya?

Jawapan :

Salam sejahtera. Terima kasih kerana menghubungi kami. 

Untuk maklumat anda, organ seperti jantung, hati, buah pinggang dan paru-paru tidak mempunyai stok simpanan. Organ adalah tidak sama seperti darah yang mempunyai bank simpanan. Ini kerana organ berfungsi dengan cara yang berbeza. Organ memerlukan darah untuk kekal 'hidup' dan berfungsi dengan baik. 

Maka, setiap organ yang dikeluarkan dari tubuh penderma organ memiliki jangka hayat yang tertentu yang amat singkat, sekalipun telah disimpan dalam larutan dan ais. Organ manusia, selepas dikeluarkan dari tubuh hanya mampu bertahan seperti berikut : 

- Jantung dan paru-paru : 2 hingga 4 jam 

- Hati : 6 hingga 8 jam 

- Buah pinggang : 8 hingga 16 jam 

Lebih lama masa yang diambil untuk proses pemindahan organ, lebih berkuranglah kualiti organ berkenaan. Oleh yang demikian, proses pendermaan dan transplantasi organ perlulah berjalan dengan cepat, lancar dan tetliti. 

Kami mencadangkan bapa kawan anda untuk mendapatkan penderma di kalangan ahli keluarga sendiri atau mendaftar sebagai penerima melalui pegawai perubatan pakar yang merawat beliau. 

Harap maklum. Terima kasih.

Mohon booth kempen kesedaran pendermaan organ

Pusat Sumber Transplan Nasional adalah badan kerajaan yang bukan sahaja menyalaras dan mengkoordinasi kes-kes pendermaan organ dan tisu, bahkan menjalankan program-program dan kempen-kempen kesedaran pendermaan organ di seluruh negara.

Progam kempen ini amat penting bagi menarik masyarakat dalam memahami hakikat pendermaan organ dan seterusnya memberi kesedaran kepada mereka untuk mendaftarkan diri sebagai pengikrar penderman organ.

Bagaimana anda boleh membantu?

Anda boleh membantu meluaskan lagi kesedaran pendermaan organ di kalangan masyarakat dengan menjemput kami membuka booth kesedaran  / pendaftaran ikrar derma organ di pejabat, kilang atau kolej anda. Perkhidmatan ini adalah percuma!

Anda boleh membuat pemohonan dengan mudah iaitu secara online.

 Nota Buat Penganjur

1. 1. Sila kembalikan borang ini dengan lengkap selewat lewatnya dua (2) minggu sebelum tarikh program.
2. 2. Booth termasuk 5 buah kerusi dan 1 buah meja.
3. 3. Sekiranya booth yang disediakan penganjur berada di kawasan luar (outdoor), sila sediakan kipas angin bagi keselesaan petugas.
4. 4. Penganjur diminta menyediakan refreshment kepada petugas sekiranya kempen melebihi 5 jam.
5. 5. Petugas sukarelawan dari pihak penganjur amatlah dialu-alukan bagi melancarkan lagi perjalanan kempen.
6. 6. Menyediakan plug elektrik untuk kegunaan petugas.
7. 7. Penganjur perlu memastikan kehadiran hadirin yang
8. 8. Tempat letak kereta untuk penceramah. Menggalakkan bagi program ceramah.
9. 9. Menyediakan kemudahan WiFi (sekiranya ada).

HAPPY Nurses Day!!!

Another year has arrived for nurses around the world to celebrate the International Nurses Day on the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. This year YB Health Minister joined close to 3000 nurses to celebrate the national level International Nurses Day here in Putrajaya.

Providing quality healthcare services to all people in need is the ethical and professional responsibility of nurses. As committed, innovative and solution oriented professionals, nurses continue to provide care with resilience and versatility even with little or no resources or organisational support. However, improving health systems’ resilience requires inter-sectorial efforts by all actors at all levels. Nurses, who deliver the majority of healthcare services in collaboration with colleagues in both and non-health sectors; have an important role in this process.

This year’s International Nurses Day theme: Nurses: A Force For Change – Improving Health Systems’ Resilience, call upon all nurses to play an integral role in leading change through personal core values, perceiving and applying fresh approaches to improve current thinking, relating to others by adapting to different standards and approaches, and developing capabilities by creating systems for succession.

Congratulations are also in order for the three exceptional nurses who have been awarded "Tokoh Jururawat" today in 3 categories: Service, Community & Education.

My best wishes go out to all nurses and on behalf of Warga KKM and everyone in Malaysia, have a very “HAPPY NURSES DAY 2016"

Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
Director General of Health Malaysia 
and Senior Consultant in Breast, Endocrine 
and General Surgery, Putrajaya Hospital, Malaysia. 

Source : Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan Facebook Page

KEPADA Siapa Harus Aku Berbakti?

Abu Hurairah melaporkan, "Nabi ditanya, 'Wahai Rasulullah, kepada siapa aku harus berbakti?" 

"Ibumu," jawab baginda. 

Dia bertanya, 'Kemudian siapa?' 

"Ibumu," jawab baginda. 

Dia bertanya, 'Kemudian siapa?' 

"Ibumu," jawab baginda. 

Dia bertanya, 'Kemudian siapa?' 

Dia menjawab, "Ayahmu."

- Hadis Sahih (Albani), Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 5

Selamat Hari Ibu.

America’s Heroin Epidemic Is Actually Helping Those Waiting For Organ Transplants

 Original post here

America’s heroin epidemic is an unprecedented tragedy that continues to affect people of all walks of life. Yet, in a morbid twist of fate, it has also positively impacted another problem within the United States health care system: an ever-growing need for organ donors.

As the number of people who have lost their lives from heroin overdoses has increased, so have the number of people on the organ transplant list who have received life-saving organ donations. "It's a silver lining to what is absolutely a tragedy,” Alexandra K. Glazier, the New England Organ Bank's CEO and president, told U.S. New & World Report.

In March 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report indicating that death rates tied to heroin overdoses had quadrupled over the past decade. And while this research showed heroin-induced deaths, other statistics show how a rise in prescription opioid painkiller abuse has opened the gateway for more widespread heroin use.

According to data gathered by the United Network for Organ Sharing, the number of donors who died of overdoses increased from 230 in 2006 to 848 in 2015, representing a 270 percent surge. Some of these donors had given consent to use their organs prior to their death, while others were signed up postmortem by a family member.

"Many of the families we encounter have been going through this addiction for several years," Glazier explained. "It's almost as if the families were preparing for this death; many feel great comfort in knowing that some good has come out of it."

The overdose victim is a relatively new kind of organ donor. While the number of people who fall into this slot has increased, victims of cardiovascular issues, gunshot wounds, blunt injuries, and asphyxiation remain the most common types of organs donors.

It is estimated that around 22 people die each day while waiting for an organ donation in the U.S. But while the heroin deaths may help to save these lives, some worry about the quality of the tissue, which, when it comes down to it, is donated by someone suffering from a drug addiction. Similar concerns have been raised over the use of HIV-positive organ transplants.

In 2013, President Barack Obama signed the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, which allowed for HIV-positive organs to be donated to HIV-positive patients. Before then, the use of organs from an HIV-positive patient was strictly forbidden for any purpose, and all HIV-positive organs had to be discarded.

That said, the HOPE Act has opened the door for research on infected organ donors. Not only would this help to improve HIV-positive patients’ lives, it would help anyone who is waiting on a transplant list.

PERLUKAH SAYA MENJALANI PEMERIKSAAN KESIHATAN ATAU UJIAN SARINGAN UNTUK MENDAFTAR SEBAGAI PENGIKRAR PENDERMA ORGAN?

Tiada sebarang pemeriksaan atau saringan diperlukan untuk mendaftar sebagai pengikrar penderma organ. Sesiapa sahaja layak mendaftarkan diri sebagai pengikrar, sekalipun mempunyai penyakit seperti darah tinggi, kencing manis atau masalah jantung. Ini kerana, saringan, ujian dan pemeriksaan sebenar akan dijalankan apabila tiba masa menjadi penderma organ sebenar kelak.

What Brain Death is and Why it Matters

Original article here

Technology brings with it new understandings about nature and possibilities never before imagined, along with complications and an ethical path much thornier, and harder to discern. Scientists and policymakers have long bemoaned the lag between runaway new technologies and the moral, legal, and procedural issues needed to wrangle them in. In many ways, medical science has changed how we define the most pivotal moments in life, particularly its bookends.


Those on either side of the abortion debate still argue over when conception begins. Meanwhile, on the other end, technology has allowed us to prolong life far past what we would consider a natural end, making what death is, and what it should be, extremely difficult for some to decipher, particularly when it means letting go of someone in their family. The Terry Shiavo case was an example of this. It also brings up the question of what is a dignified death, as typified by California’s new Right to Die law.


The very concept of death has been shaken up by life support technology. The heart may beat on for weeks in a living cadaver. The skin may feel warm to the touch. But without activity inside the brain, the person is dead without question. Still, with these signs, it’s hard for a family to let go. Once the brain stem is gone, they are no longer with us.





Here is where the controversy comes in. There are cases where medical professionals say a person is brain dead, while the family fights to keep their loved one on life support. For instance, the 2013 case of Jahi McMath. The thirteen year-old Oakland, Calif. native was undergoing routine surgery for sleep apnea. Surgeons were removing her tonsils and some other soft tissue, and elected procedure to help her sleep better. Unfortunately, something terrible happened while she was on the operating table.


McMath was declared brain dead on December 12 of that year. The family fought in court to keep her on the ventilator, and she was moved to another, unnamed medical facility across the country. Despite the lack of activity in her brain, her other life signs registered normal. Another case surrounded Marlese Munoz, a women 14 week pregnant who on November 26, 2014 suffered a pulmonary embolism. She was soon pronounced brain dead at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Here, the family insisted she be taken off life support, while the hospital refused, citing a Texas law that states such support cannot be withdrawn from a pregnant patient.


We tend to think of brain death and a coma as the same thing. In medicine, they are worlds apart. Coma is a state of unconsciousness, according to the Mayo Clinic. Generally speaking, a coma doesn’t last more than a few weeks. After that, the person awakens. Best case scenario, they regain full cognitive and physical functioning. Worst case, they remain in a persistent vegetative state. Terry Schiavo was an example of this. Such a person may move their eyes or make sounds. Yet, they cannot understand speech or respond to it. Fortunately, most comatose patients recover with time.





A brain dead person however is technically dead. They will never recover, and once removed from the machines, all bodily functions will eventually cease. The Uniform Determination of Death Act states that the cessation of respiratory or heart functions, or of brain functioning inside the brain stem constitute brain death.


Lower brain functions derive from the top portion of our spinal cord. This is responsible for body function regulations such as breathing, heartbeat, the reflexes, sleep-wake cycles, and body temperature. The Upper Brain is where higher functions take place, such as the five senses. With brain death, neither the upper nor the lower part of the brain functions. But certain body functions, including the heartbeat, may go on. Though these give some families hope, unless it is a case of misdiagnosis, the patient will never recover.


Physicians say it is difficult for many grieving families to understand that a person is dead, even when their heart is still beating. Whereas the heart usually stops at some point within the first 72 hours, in can in some cases continued to beat for a week or more. Without brain function, someone on a ventilator may look like their breathing. But they could never do it on their own.


The American Academy of Neurology updated the guidelines for brain death in 2010. Here, doctors must go through a checklist including 25 separate items before brain death can be declared. All the criteria must be met. However, these definitions vary legally from one state to the next. Even so, no one has ever been declared brain dead and survived.





Brain death was a term first created for the routinization of organ and tissue harvesting. That’s according to Margaret Lock, a medical anthropologist at McGill University in Montreal. In an article called, “Inventing Death and Making it Believable,” she writes that the concept of brain death only exists to give legal parameters in cases where the organs were still viable, yet the patient is longer alive. This designation became protection for medical professionals and organizations to handle such organs without fear of legal reprisal.


Many countries today argue over just what brain death actually means. There is no conception of this in Japanese culture for instance. They do not discriminate between the heart and the mind, which in the West comes from Descartes. Whereas, in America, it has a hard and detailed definition. Without this designation, organ donation would be hobbled.


That doesn’t stop unscrupulous organ traders and medical centers from harvesting organs even before families are made aware that their loved one is deceased. Since a large number of accidents and incidents of violence happen in the inner cities of America, a disproportionate number of organs come from these places. Many times the families are not made aware, or medical centers don’t do everything they can to make sure families know before their loved ones organs are made into a commodity. Medical technologies have bred so much advancement, and have helped improve human life in tremendous ways. But the ethical lag means that there are a lot of dark corners and niches that cause waste, deceit, denial, and harm. How we move forward in these instances, and what motivations are involved must also be considered.


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