When is someone officially dead?
Posted: Friday, April 04, 2008 9:27 AM
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Tel Aviv, Israel
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
TEL AVIV, Israel – Israelis in desperate need of an organ transplant can now breathe a little easier. A new law passed last week in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) will hopefully help bridge the gulf between Orthodox and secular Jews on the controversial issue of organ donation and help pave the way for more transplants.
An issue which has long been a sticking point in the organ transplant debate in Israel has been the question of when a person is considered to be officially dead. The new law hopes to assuage the concerns of Orthodox Jews by introducing new guidelines for doctors and families to follow if there is an opportunity for a donation.
Despite the change, there is still a great deal of opposition among Orthodox Jews. Beni Moshe, who is number one on the list of people waiting for a new lung, fears it may already be too late for him.
The 46-year-old Moshe, who is married and the father of three, suffers from a severe lung disease which means he is attached to an oxygen tank 24/7.
"I hope the new law will encourage people to donate, I have been waiting since August for a transplant and feel I’m floating between life and death," Moshe told Haaretz newspaper.
Timing critical
For transplants to be effective, medical staff must have access to a donor’s organs the minute a person is pronounced brain dead. At that point doctors can use the heart, the lungs and the liver.
However, up until last week, the medical definition of brain dead was not accepted by Orthodox Jews who believe a person is dead only when their heart stops beating, which is often too late for doctors to use the organs.
As a result, organ donors in Israel are rare – amounting to only 4 percent of the population – leaving 1,000 patients in Israel who are currently waiting for an organ donation.
New protocol
Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, a vocal advocate for organ donation, is trying to help assuage the fears of Orthodox Jews about the process.
Sherlo explained that most Orthodox Jews distrust doctors and are afraid they will be too quick to proclaim a relative is dead in order to take the organs. Also, many Orthodox families want a relative’s body to be buried as intact as possible, with no defects.
Sherlo is appealing to Orthodox Jews to adhere to the new protocol approved by the Knesset. The new law states that once a person is pronounced brain dead and is a candidate for organ donation, the following procedure must be followed:
- A high-ranking doctor working independently from the attending physician will approach the family to explain the new protocol and make sure that the guidelines for transplant set by a special committee of rabbis is being adhered to.
- The attending doctor will evaluate the patient’s situation and act accordingly, explaining the guidelines to the family again and ultimately giving them the right to refuse the whole procedure altogether if they ask not to go ahead.
But in Israel nothing is easy. Orthodox Jews are themselves divided along ethnic lines. The Orthodox Zionist movement is on board with the new law and the green light was also given by the Sephardic Jews. The real problem lies with the Ashkenazy movement, which adamantly rejected the new law, claiming that taking any organ from a person whose heart is still beating is equal to bloodshed.
It looks like the fate of Moshe, and more patients like him, lies largely with Orthodox leaders, who are expected to call upon their followers to accept the new ruling and agree to donate their relatives’ organs to save the lives of others.
