From Israel, a radical way to boost organ donation

[The Straight Story]

From Israel, a radical way to boost organ donation


Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation: Sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.

The new law is the first of its kind in the world, and international medical authorities are eager to see if it boosts organ supply. But it has also raised resistance from within Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority.

These opponents say it discriminates against them because their religious convictions forbid the donation of their organs, and while they are unlikely to get the law reversed, they have the political clout to slow its implementation.

Only 10 percent of Israeli adults hold donor cards, compared with more than 30 percent in most Western countries. The actual rate of families donating a deceased's organs is 45 percent, but in other countries it rises to 70 percent, according to Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit at Israel's Sheba Medical Center.

The low rate of organ donation is thought to be partly driven by religious considerations. Most rabbis have no problem with transplants to save lives; their objection is to profiting from or needlessly mutilating cadavers. But 99-year-old Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv takes a different view, and he is one of ultra-Orthodox Jewry's most influential leaders, claiming 100,000 followers among Israel's 6 million Jews. Elyashiv forbids organ donation before cardiac death, but allows his followers to receive lifesaving donations.

Lavee, the doctor who helped draft the law, hopes that a broader pool of organs will ultimately benefit everyone, but he acknowledges that one of his primary motivations is "to prevent free riders."

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/wire/article/301010/

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. I Thought The Consensus

I thought the consensus was that most Jewish law could be violated to save a human life. For instance, the prohibition against driving on the Sabbath can be violated if human life is at stake. Also, if you were on a deserted island and the only food available was wild boar you could eat pig which is considered a dirty animal.

I know Jewish law prohibits cremation and autopsies but now I see discussion on the former.

I am by no means an expert on Jewish law but find it interesting.

[Chemisse]

2. People who oppose organ donation on religious principle

Should certainly not be hypocritical enough to accept an organ donation. So the concept that people are being discriminated against for their religious beliefs seems disingenuous.

It's like the guy who refuses to pay his taxes griping because the fire department doesn't respond fast enough or the roads have potholes.

So I like this idea.

[howard112211]

3. "their religious convictions forbid the donation of their organs"

So they are okay to receive a transplanted organ but not okay to donate one? Mmmkay....

Overall, the measure sounds like a fair policy IMO.