Thoughts on a Controversy

Killer's quest: Allow organ donation after execution

This is one of those situations that gnaw at me. I love them because they challenge my mind and I hate them because there's never a clear answer to be found. The controversy of it all. So many sides to take.

First, the side of the killer:
He committed a terrible act of violence. He wants to make things "right," as he says. Some might question if it can ever be perceived as "made right" but it's hard to fault someone who wants to save lives in exchange for his death. It's his body, but as a prisoner does he have rights to his body? He's got a point:

“Why go out and waste your organs when you have the potential to go out and save six to 12 lives?”

He's not asking to be saved from execution. He's asking to use his body to save someone else. It's not a new concept. Jodi Picoult wrote a book about this same matter. A death row inmate who wants to use his heart to save the sister of his victim's life. Now how hard would that be?

Second, the side of the state:
There's something that doesn't necessarily "feel" right about accepting organs from a convicted murderer. But - we make a lot of decisions based on feelings and maybe sometimes that's not the right way to look at things. The best point they made was:

I don’t think we want to be the kind of society that takes organs from prisoners,” said Dr. Paul R. Helft, director of the Charles Warren Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics and Indiana University. "To do so would be to use unfree prisoners as a means to an end."


True. Very true. It could easily fall down a slippery slope with unscrupulous officials involved. However, to term it as "morally reprehensible;" well, now that I just don't accept.

I don't think he's trying to say that donating his organs will make everything right in the world. He said it would give him some peace, psychologically, but my hunch from reading the article is that he's not under an illusion that people would forgive him 100%.

Finally, the side of the potential recipients:
How many people would complain about taking a heart - any heart - if it means saving the life of a loved one? For every patient who would potentially turn the organ down, I'm guessing there's hundreds more who would snatch it in a heartbeat (no pun intended). There have been the occasional reports of someone finding some connection between their new organ and their donor but as far as I know, no official research has been done on the subject.
 
Another point that bothers me:
“It’s impossible to be sure that a person who is behind bars is making a decision they would make while walking down the street,” says Jeffrey Orlowski, executive director of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, the non-profit group that represents the nation’s 58 regional groups.
 

It's not impossible to be sure. I am an organ donor, it's plastered on my driver's license for all to see. I walk down the street every day (no, seriously, I walk to work every day!). If, heaven forbid, I were to wind up in jail one day - are they trying to say that I suddenly don't know what decision I'm making?

Granted, there might not be a lot of people in the prison system who had proclaimed themselves organ donors before they were sent to jail. But I would be willing to bet there are some.

Then, they go on to mention that if he were to die of natural causes, he would be much more likely to have his wishes carried out. Medically, that makes sense. But how is that more ethical? He's still a prisoner.

Either way, it's questionable whether or not the organs would be able to "survive" the lethal injection. I mean, when the point of the drugs are to stop your heart, how are you going to harvest it to save someone else? I'm no doctor, but that seems like a hard point to wrap my head around. However, if it is the drugs that would keep the donations from happening - why not say so? Wouldn't that virtually end the controversy?

In all likelihood, his organs won't be donated. It's good to open this sort of subject for discussion, though. It's controversies that make people squirm (myself included) that are the most intriguing to me and contribute to making changes in the world.