It’s not a happy ending, but the situation could have been worse.
“Organ donation: ‘My daughter was shot but lives on in those she saved’“
Harry Low, BBC News (January 30, 2023)
“…Rolly Prajapati was sleeping peacefully last April in the home she shared with her five brothers and sisters in suburban Delhi. In the next room, her parents were preparing dinner when they heard a loud bang and a scream.
“When they went into the room, Rolly cried out for her parents before falling unconscious.
“It was only when they saw blood trickling out of her right ear that they realised something awful had happened: a stray bullet had entered the family’s home in Noida and hit her….”
Rolly’s family took her to a hospital, but her brain had stopped working. Nine months later, police say there’s “no clear suspect” but that they’re still investigating.
Meanwhile, several folks haven’t died: thanks to a decision the Prajapati family made.
“…Her father Harnarayan Prajapati explained that the decision to donate a child’s organs was not always straightforward.
“He said: ‘I didn’t know what to do. I kept thinking through the night. I told the [doctor] that we needed more time to think.
“‘Eventually we decided to go ahead, thinking ‘if my daughter’s organs could save someone’s life, then we should do it’….”
(Harry Low, BBC News (January 30, 2023))
I strongly suspect that calling the decision to donate Rolly’s organs “not always straightforward” was an understatement.
But I think Rolly’s family made a good choice. I’ll get back to that.
Knowing It’s an Option
“…But bringing the idea of the lifesaving potential of donating into the minds of ordinary people was perhaps the most important factor….
“…At the forefront of this is Dr Deepak Gupta, who has travelled to Rome to meet Reg and other experts from the organ donation community.
“It was Dr Gupta who first spoke about the option of organ donation to Rolly’s parents — they, like many in the country, had never heard of it.
“He used Nicholas’s example to show Mr Prajapati, who is illiterate, the possible impact of donating.
“One person dies in India from a head injury every three minutes, according to the Lancet Neurology Commission, and so, as Dr Gupta says, there is ‘a lot of potential for donors’….”
(Harry Low, BBC News (January 30, 2023))
Things haven’t been the same in the Noida area, ever since Skandagupta died.
Whether that’s good news, bad news, or — actually, I think reviewing events over the last three quarters of a millennium is more than I want to do today.1
Before Rolly’s death, Mr. Prajapati had known about blood transfusions. But he hadn’t heard of organ transplants. And, since he couldn’t read, hadn’t read about them either.
I’ve run across the assumption that illiterate and ignorant mean the same thing. As I see it, someone might be both illiterate and ignorant. But someone who knows how to read can choose to use the skill: or not. And that’s another topic.
The point is that a great many folks in India don’t see organ donation as an option, arguably because they don’t know it is an option.
Family traditions or religious scruples may keep some from gifting organs after death. Others may simply feel squeamish at the thought. Understandably.
But my guess is that many would decide, as Mr. Prajapati did, that it’s a good idea.
A Hard Decision
I don’t know how Mr. Prajapati felt, when he saw blood coming from his daughter’s right ear. Or later, when he was told that her brain had shut down.
I can guess, based on how I felt when our sixth pregnancy ended with Elizabeth thrashing around on our way to a hospital.
Followed by knowledge that there was no detectable heartbeat. And me following an ambulance from our regional hospital to one down in St. Cloud. This was several decades back now, and; well — losing a child, judging from my experience, is not pleasant. At all.
In today’s context, I’d better explain why my wife and I didn’t volunteer Elizabeth’s organs for transplant.
For one thing, we were both a bit preoccupied; and the question didn’t come up.
For another, and I’d have to research this to be sure: but I’m pretty sure that organ donation wasn’t an option. Several hours had passed since Elizabeth’s death, by the time we got her and my wife disconnected.
My hat’s off to the Prajapati family, for choosing to let Rolly’s death help others.
“…A Noble and Meritorious Act….”
Medical science has come a long way since my youth: heart transplants are no longer international news, hip replacement surgery is a comparatively routine procedure, and researchers are working on grow-your-own replacement organs.2
But: is it right to for us to help folks live longer, healthier lives?
Briefly, yes. But ethics mater, just like with everything else we do.
Less briefly, medical treatments are okay. Provided that benefits outweigh risks. And that I’m not helping one person by killing or maiming another. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2278, 2296)
Putting it another way, healing the sick is a good idea. So is prayer. Life and physical health are precious gifts, but neither should be my top priority. Scientific research is a good idea, so are organ transplants; but ‘it’s for science’ doesn’t trump ethical standards. (Catechism, 1506-1512, 2288-2289, 2292-2296)
“Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a 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 admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2296) [emphasis mine]
Perceptions, Assumptions and “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die”
Some of this week’s good news is what I haven’t seen in the news. Granted, I didn’t go looking for something shocking.
And it’s not surprising that the BBC News article didn’t include an interview with some crackpot pastor or campus atheist, who proclaimed that organ transplants are a Satanic plot.
Or that Christians are superstitious louts who hate science and love ignorance.
For one thing, that’s not the sort of thing BBC News does.
For another, I’m pretty sure that word is getting around, that a great many American Christians aren’t trying desperately to forget that it’s not 1925 any more.
Even so, I still run across hints that films like “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” retain their influence on public perceptions. And that’s yet another topic.
I’ve talked about transplants, medicine and bioethics before, but not recently:
- “Science, Religion, COVID-19 and an Unexpected Opinion“
(November 8, 2021) - “Health Care Directive“
(November 24, 2019) - “Brains and Ethics“
(May 2, 2018) - “Editing Genes, Ethically“
(August 18, 2017) - “Face Transplant at Mayo“
(February 24, 2017)
- Wikipedia
- I talked about it, last year
2 Medical science and technology:
- Wikipedia
