Ethicists and emergency medicine experts are raising concerns over New York City’s plan to dispatch the first ambulance service in the country equipped to preserve the organs of the newly deceased.
They question whether the organ-preserving ambulances will create tension among EMTs who may be charged both to save lives and to preserve organs for reuse.
So, what follows closely behind the Rapid Organ Recovery Ambulance?
A hearse with the rest of the body? Accompanied by a plethora of cop cars and bringing up the rear the Ghostbusters hearse with any “residuals” leftover?
These people are nuts, and even more so when you consider the program is getting federal funding.
Thankfully someone is clanging a warning bell: “Will raising organ donation follow pronouncement of death, or will people come to know that the organ donation ambulance has been sent, making them wonder if their relative got a full press of rescue care?” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “This is called violating the dead donor rule — no organ donation [discussion] raised prior to pronouncement of death.”
Exactly, and there’s nothing like opening up a very large can of lawsuits in the most litigious society on the planet is there?
