from BabagaNewz Magazine, Shevat 5767 / February 2006

Michael, a 36-year-old man living in metropolitan Los Angeles, had suffered from diabetes since his teenage years. As a result, his kidneys began to fail, and his only hope for survival depended on receiving a kidney and pancreas transplant. But a shortage of available human organs threatened his life. After waiting 18 agonizing months, Michael finally received a kidney and a pancreas from a young man who died in an automobile accident. Although Michael is alive today, he warns that others are not so fortunate. The donor shortage must be eliminated, he says. "We must sweep aside the ignorance and the myths that prevent people from donating their organs."

SERIOUS DONOR SHORTAGE

No one disputes the grim fact that demand for human organs far outstrips supply. In fact, during the first 11 months of 2006, only 22,000 transplants were performed nationwide; meanwhile, nearly 95,000 Americans languished on waiting lists, desperate for hearts, livers, kidneys, bone marrow, and other organs. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates a national waiting list, says 17 people die every day due to organ shortages.

FEAR KEEPS DONORS AWAY

Fear prevents millions of Americans from donating live-saving organs. Living donors, in contrast to those who give their organs after they die, must subject themselves to the risks of surgery and the pain of recovery. In addition to these legitimate fears, several widely circulated rumors might frighten potential donors. For example, urban myths have popularized the notion that organ donors receive inferior hospital care because transplant doctors want their healthy organs. An even worse falsehood asserts that physicians harvest transplantable organs before dying patients are legally dead.

Although physicians acknowledge that transplant surgery involves risks to organ donors and recipients, they insist the benefits surpass the dangers; after all, approximately 300,000 lives have been saved by transplants. Fear of surgery, therefore, should not stop potential donors. Likewise, unfounded concerns about unethical medical behavior should not worry anyone. Most hospitals prohibit transplant physicians from treating patients, a policy that guarantees appropriate care. Furthermore, before removing an organ from a dying donor, many hospitals require an independent team to certify the precise moment of death.

RELIGIOUS BARRIERS?

Ignorance about religious beliefs also affects the nation's organ shortage. Instead of weighing competing religious values, opponents to organ donation frequently rely solely on well-known prohibitions against mutilating a corpse, or on misguided beliefs that resurrection from the dead requires an intact, whole body. Religious authorities, including rabbis, have disputed these misunderstandings, teaching that organ donation is not only ethical, but also praiseworthy.

THE JEWISH VIEW

Although after-death donations raise complex issues under Jewish law, the values debate is clearer for living donors. Jewish law commands, "Take utmost care and watch yourself scrupulously..." (Devarim 4:9), a verse our sages explain demands that you avoid dangerous situatons. If you choose to become a living donor, you voluntarily put yourself at risk and violate this value. On the other hand, Jewish law values life above all else and obligates you to save it whenever possible (Vayikra 19:16)--pikuah nefesh.