Debate about Organ Donations

October 12, 2002

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 12, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "the questions of when death begins and when donated organs may be used have raised a thicket of moral issues... The Catholic Church and Islamic groups see such acts as charity. Among Jews, a debate rages. Rabbis from opposing camps continue to vociferously debate when death begins-- at the cessation of neurological functions, known as brain death, or when the heart and respiratory systems fail. The definition is key to organ donations, because doctors using heart-lung machines can keep those systems working a long time."