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Religious views on organ donation


Religious views on organ donation are generally very favorable, although there is a debate in certain religious groups on the validity of current brain death criteria. Accordingly, the more theologians are accepting of current brain death criteria, the more they are likely to support organ donation.

All major religions either accept organ donation or accept the right of individual members to make their own decision. Most religions like the Roman Catholic Church are in favor of organ donation as acts of charity and as a means of saving a life. Jains, who regard compassion to be a main principle of their faith, donate organs pro-actively Some impose certain restrictions. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses require that organs be drained of any blood due to their interpretation of the disallowance of blood transfusion from the Bible, and Muslims require that the donor have provided written consent in advance.Orthodox Judaism considers it obligatory if it will save a life, as long as the donor is considered dead as defined by Jewish law, which is a matter of debate among different rabbis. A few groups disfavor organ transplantation or donation; notably, these include Shinto and those who follow the folk customs of the Romani.

The 1981 federal report, Defining Death, found that Catholic and Protestant theologies did not object to brain death criteria. Indeed, Dennis Horan, president of the pro-life group Americans United for Life, stated:

Legislation limiting the concept of brain death to the irreversible cessation of total function of the brain, including the brain stem, is beneficial and does not undermine any of the values we seek to support.

In recent times, the findings of the 1981 President's Commission Report have been questioned. The new attack on brain death criteria has been multi-pronged. First, the view that brain death marks the end of the integrated unity of the human organism has been questioned. Alan Shewmon has argued that the body as a whole is the central integrator of the organism rather than the brain.

He appeals to, among other reasons, brain dead pregnant women who have lived up to 200+ days and given birth to healthy children, as well as to a brain dead boy who lived over fourteen years on a ventilator and with basic nursing support. Others have argued that there is insufficient evidence that the entire brain is dead in a brain dead individual. Some brain dead individuals have continuing EEG activity and others maintain normal or near-normal body temperature, implying continuing hypothalamic function.


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