Why may religious people have problems with transplant surgery??

Question

Why may religious people have problems with transplant surgery??

Answer 1

I'm a third-generation atheist and I have problems with transplant surgery.

If you think "brain death" means the brain has stopped functioning, think again.

Before a diagnosis of "brain death" can be rendered, hypothermia must be ruled out. Since body temperature is regulated by the brain, some brain functioning is ironically a requirement for a diagnosis of "brain death!"

Many "brain dead" individuals are able to maintain their body's salt and water balance, an activity which is regulated by the brain. Many "brain dead" people continue to produce Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone, AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone, and Prolactin, all of which are secreted by the hypothalamus-pituitary complex, which is part of the brain. And I've saved the best for last: a review of the literature showed that of 611 cases in which EEG's were performed on "brain-dead" individuals, 138 had measurable activity in the cerebral cortex.

A so-called "beating heart-cadaver" will exhibit a sharp rise in blood pressure and heart rate during the explantation process, just as in a living person being attacked with a knife.

I don't know if a "beating-heart cadaver" feels pain, terror, or grief when they saw open her rib cage and begin slicing out her vital organs one by one, but if paralyzing drugs were not administered, she would certainly appear to be suffering, and appearances are all we have to go on for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Answer 2

How exactly? Being an organ donor or recipient?

Answer 3

I can only answer this about Judaism.

The basic dilemma is:

On the one hand, nothing is supposed to be holier that saving lives.

On the other hand:

Some believe it's wrong to harvest organs from the dead because the dead are supposed to be resurrected when the Messiah comes. This is generally considered baloney, since the soul would be resurrected in a new body (this according to the theory).

The real problem is that according to the religious tradition, life ends when the heart stops, so that a person who's brain dead but with a still beating heart (i.e., a prime candidate for organ harvesting) is considered to be alive, hence organ harvesting allegedly = murder and so on.

It's not about being anti-life or "playing God" and so forth, the real problem is much more down-to-earth than that.

Answer 4

That has got to be one of the most asinine things I have ever heard.  Transplants save lives.

Answer 5

They claim surgeons are playing God.

Answer 6

It's simple, really. Look at religions history: War, torture, murder, hangings, burning people at the stake.

Religions are typically anti-life, so of course they're against transplants.

Answer 7

Ignorance, also ignorance on the part of the questioner; Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27