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Organ donation

486 bytes added, 03:08, December 13, 2005
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# a live volunteer, typically a relative of the recipient;
# a brain dead person with a heart beat but reliant unable to breath on a respiratortheir own; or# someone whose organs were removed and preserved upon death until the need arises. ; # a pig, often for its heart valves.
A healthy human can donate a kidney, part of the liver, bone marrow, and blood without serious long term health risks. Surgeons can transplant many additional organs, such as the heart and lungs, intestines, pancreas, and corneas, if the donor is already dead. There is a small medical risk on the part of a live donor as it involves surgical removal of the organ or organs.
The lives of many adults and children, boys and girls, young and old, are saved through such a donation. A donor is often hailed in society as a hero; families often come together as life long friends, sharing the common bond of a donated organ. In this way, such a donation is an expression of love and concern and sacrifice for the well being of another child of God.
Blood transfusions and skin transplants were performed in the Patristic period and this practice was never condemned. Solid organ transplantation did not exist in the Patristic Period, so there are no patristic writings which deal directly with this issue. Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas and other modern Orthodox theologians have written statements concerning organ donation. Fr. Harakas, in particular ("Pastoral Guidelines: Church Positions Regarding the Sanctity of Human Life," Internet article: [http://www.goarch.org/print/en/ourfaith/article8083.asp], 2002) tells us that we should always respect the body of the donor, whether alive or dead, and we should carefully consider such a decision to donate. The donation should certainly be a voluntary act of love. Blood and marrow donations should not be as great an issue as it involves no surgery and causes no obvious harm.
Fr. Harakas adds the following:
:''Such donations are acceptable if the deceased donor had willed such action, or if surviving relatives permit it providing that it was in harmony with the desires of the deceased. Such actions can be approved as an expression of love and if they express the self-determination of the donor. In all cases, respect for the body of the donor should be maintained.
:''Organ transplants should never be commercialized nor coerced nor take placed place without proper consent, nor place in jeopardy the identity of the donor or recipient, such as the use of animal organs. Nor should the death of the donor be hastened in order to harvest organs for transplantation to another person.''  As Fr. Harakas implies, a person's organs should never be sold at any price. The body is part of a person, is sanctified through the gift of the Holy Spirit and is a temple of the Holy Spirit, as Fr. Reardon states (see External Links section). No one should sell off even part of that temple; the donor should freely give the organ to save a human life. However, it's only fair that the donor should never incur any medical or related expenses as a result of the donation.
==External links==
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