Transplantations and brain death

  1. Lemma
  2. Μεταμοσχεύσεις και εγκεφαλικός θάνατος
  3. Greek, Modern (1453-)
  4. Koutalis, Vangelis
  5. Modes of interaction > Integration - Ethics - Scientific theories and disciplines > Medicine
  6. 26-02-2017
  7. Panagiotou, Vasilis [Author]. Transplantations and brain death
  8. Ενατενίσεις
  9. transplants - cerebral death - bioethics - love of neighbor - transplantations
  10. Ενατενίσεις, τεύχος 1
    1. <p>Panagiotou, V. [Παναγιώτου, Β.] (2007). Μεταμοσχεύσεις και εγκεφαλικός θάνατος. <em>Ενατενίσεις</em>, <em>1</em>, 26-27.</p>

    1. The recent leaping advances in interventional medicine have given rise to a variety of moral, theological, social and scientific dilemmas. The author of this short article discusses the reservations of some believers against the use of transplants, in the sense that transplantation, from a theological point of view, constitutes an illicit human intervention in the plan of God, as well as the problem of legally defining biological death by equating it with the cessation of brain function.

      The progress of medicine and of the sciences more generally, according to the author, is quite consistent with the plan of God, since it is God who has endowed human beings with the knowing abilities that permit them to intervene creatively in their reality and to find solutions for the practical problems with which they deal in their lives. Even more than that, organ donation is compatible with the hagiographical truth and is an expression of abundance of true love for one’s neighbour. So long as the free will of the donor, or of the donor’s family, in cases where the donor is unable to express his or her free opinion, is by no means violated and provided that strict standards are applied for the objective diagnosis of death brain, which internationally is recognized as signifying biological death, the Church should explicitly endorse organ donation, as yet one available way to transform through love the suffering of the recipient into a hope for life. In this regard, the Church should also build a spiritual tradition on transplantations oriented towards the spiritual need for the offering of feelings by the donor.