I HAVE WRITTEN MANY TIMES ABOUT THE EVIL TENDENCY OF SOME MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS AND MEDICAL FACILITIES TO HASTEN THE FINDING OF “BRAIN DEATH” IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO LEGALLY HARVEST ORGANS FOR TRANSPLANTATION.

I return to the subject again because of something that happened over the past weekend.  I received a call from Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life, informing me that a 32 year old man had suffered electrocution at his place of work and was in a coma in a Corpus Christi hospital.

Elizabeth told me that the doctors had declared the young man to be “brain dead” and had notified his parents (who are poor subsistence farmers) that they would, after 10 days, remove his life support and harvest his organs.

Texas has an immoral law that allows medical practitioners to do this if the family does not remove the patient to another medical facility within 10 days.

Given the close working relationship of the members of the Texas Health Association it is not surprising that many medical facilities are unwilling to accept transfer patients suffering from such medical conditions.  Also, the poverty of many families militates against their being able to afford such a transfer.

Texas Right to Life was on the verge of persuading the Texas Legislature to extend the period of transfer from 10 to 30 or more days.  Unfortunately, The Texas Catholic Conference lobbied the Legislature shortly before the Legislature ended its 2011 session on June 1, 2011, to keep the 10 day period in the law.  So, at least until the next session of the Legislature the transfer period limit will remain 10 days.

Returning to the case of the young man electrocuted and lying comatose in the hospital in Corpus Christi, Elizabeth Graham asked me if I could help the family.  I told her that I would ask a priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christ who I knew had great compassion for sick and dying individuals to visit the young man in the hospital.

The priest did and finding that the hospital was on the verge of removing life support asked the parents if they would allow him to baptize the young man and administer the Sacrament of the Sick and the last rites to him.  The parents gave their consent.

The priest then baptized the young man, administered the the Sacrament of the Sick and prayed the Church’s prayers for the dying.

The medical staff removed the life support and when the respirator was removed, to everyone’s shock, the young man began to breath on his own.

Shortly thereafter, he smiled and opened his eyes.

Today he talking!

The hospital is now preparing to remove him from the ICU to a regular hospital room.

How many more such miraculous recoveries of patients about to have their organs removed for transplantation will have to occur before the practice of using “brain death” as the primary criterion for removing life support will have to occur before the medical profession recognizes that the quiescent brain is not a proof of death?

How many comatose patients will die because their families are unable to scramble and find another medical facility to accept their loved one?