Dr Paul Byrne is president of the Catholic Medical Association. Dr Byrne has been practicing medicine since 1957 and writing on brain death since 1975.
While the Church has not made a statement specifically about heart transplant,
the position of the Church is clear to me, beginning with the Council of
Vienne, 1313:
"Moreover, with the approval of the said council, we reject as erroneous and contrary to the truth of the Catholic faith, every doctrine rashing asserting that the substance of the rational or the intellectual soul is not of itself and essentially the form of the human body, or casting doubt on this matter. In order that all may know the truth of the faith in its purity and all error may be excluded, we define that anyone who presumes henceforth to assert, defend or hold stubbornly that the rational or intellectual soul is not the form of the human body of itself and essentially, is to be considered a heretic."
(This passage asserts that it is heretical to believe that the
soul is a component of the brain or some other part of the body. The church
teaches that the soul is an entity to itself, indeed created in the Image
and Likeness of the Creator.)
The position was reaffirmed by the Lateran Council, 1512 - 1517.
An address by Pope Pius XII in 1957, stated:
"But considerations of a general nature allow us to believe that human life continues for as long as its vital functions - distinguished from the simple life of organs- manifest themselves spontaneously or even with the help of artificial processes".
Also, Pope Pius XII, in an address about corneal transplant, stated,
"...public authorities have the duty ... to take care that a 'corpse' shall not be considered and treated as such until death has been sufficiently proved."
Pope John Paul II stated in 1991 to a group on organ transplants:
"... A person can only donate that of which he can deprive himself without serious danger or harm to his own life or personal identity, and for a just and proportionate reason. It is obvious that vital organs can only be donated AFTER DEATH."
Pope John Paul II to the participants of the 1989 Pontifical Academy
of Science stated:
"The problem of the moment of death has serious implications at the practical level and this aspect is also of great interest to the church. In practice there seems to arise a tragic dilemma. On one hand there is the urgent need to find replacement organs for sick people who would otherwise die or at least would not recover. In other words, it is conceivable that in order to escape certain and imminent death a patient may need to receive an organ which could be provided by another patient, who may be lying next to him in the hospital, but about whose death there still remains some doubt. Consequently, in the process there arises the danger of terminating human life, of definitively disrupting the psychosomatic unity of a person. More precisely, there is a real possibility that the life whose continuation is made unsustainable by the removal of a vital organ may be that of a living person, whereas the respect due to human life absolutely prohibits the direct and positive sacrifice of that life, even though it may be for the benefit of another human being who might be felt to be entitled to preference."
Another important reference is to #2296 of the CATECHISM OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH:
Organ transplants are in confirmity with the moral law IF the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good that is sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, IT IS NOT MORALLY ADMISSABLE TO BRING ABOUT the disabling mutilation OR DEATH of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.
(Next refers to a question about "The Charter for Health Care
Workers" which expresses the opinion that it is morally admissable to harvest
the organs when brain death is established. Dr Byrne points out that this
document is not in accordance with the "two Councils cited and the statements
by the Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II)
The position of the Catholic church must be that vital organ excision is prohibited unless the patient (donor) is already dead. And this is a contradiction in itself. Is the soul no longer present when the heart is still beating, there is a recordable blood pressure, a normal temperature, normal salt and water balances, and many internal organs and systems are still functioning and maintaining the unity of the body? These are the findings when a heart or other vital organs are taken for transplant. IF THE SEPARATION OF THE BODY AND THE SOUL CANNOT BE VERIFIED OR THERE IS DOUBT ABOUT THE SEPARATION OF THE BODY AND THE SOUL, VITAL ORGAN EXCISION IS PROHIBITED.
(Dr Byrne was asked to detail the types of organ harvesting and which is acceptable to the church)
There are three types of transplantation:
"It is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it."
(CF ROM 3 - Veritas Splendor #80)
Courtesy of: HLI Reports, Ap 1998
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