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Organ Donation after Cardiac Death a Danger to Critical Patients ~ Medical Professor
TORONTO, October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A doctor and assistant professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Calgary is warning that a change in the rules defining death for purposes of organ donations could place patients in danger and ICU doctors in a conflict of interest.
Dr. Christopher Doig, director of the intensive care unit at Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre, wrote in an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that allowing organs to be removed from patients after cardiac arrest could place vulnerable patients at risk.
Currently Canada relies upon the "brain death" criterion to retrieve organs from patients. which definition is itself ambiguous and a source of much controversy. "We need to put the brake on things," Dr. Doig said.
