Organ donation and transplantation ...
Organ donation and transplantation – is it a good idea?
According to the International Registry of Organ Donation & Transplantation, Australia is currently ranked seventeenth in the world when it comes to donating organs. Organisations like Donate Life and Transplant Australia would like to change that, because one organ and tissue donor can save the lives of up to ten people and significantly improve the lives of dozens more. Strong campaigning by these organisations over the last few years has seen donor rates increase every year, but more donors are always needed. Organs that are being transplanted the most are kidneys, livers, hearts, heart/lungs, pancreases, pancreatic islets, and intestines, which have given many people a second chance in this life. In order to entice us to become organ donors, both organisations do their utmost to dispel some fears surrounding organ donation, and they make organ donation look like the greatest gift we could to give to others. So why would we perhaps not want to be good Samaritans and bring hope to others?
To answer this I would like to present some different perspectives regarding organ donation and transplantation. The first one is from the viewpoint of the donor. Many people are afraid of entering the donor register, because they wonder whether the doctors will know that they are really dead. In answer to this, Donate Life states that the organs will not be removed until two senior doctors have separately tested that the person is brain dead. The clinical tests for brain death establish that there is no brain function and no blood flow to the brain. At this point, there is no possibility that the brain will ever function again. But does that mean the person is really dead? Why then do doctors have to anaesthetise a brain dead person before harvesting the organs? And what do the doctors know about the spiritual consciousness and the requirements for its evolution?
In the book ‹Wiedergeburt, Leben, Sterben, Tod und Trauer› Billy explains the difference between clinical death and biological death. Clinical death means that the breathing, heart activity and brain activity are reduced to such an extent that even an EEG cannot pick it up, which is then called zero line EEG. But with that the state of ‹Tiefst-Agonie› (deepest agony) has not been reached, during which the spirit form and the consciousness-block leave the Colliculus Superior and disappear into their respective realm on the other side, which means that the body can be revived through cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Biological death, on the other hand, means that a complete and irreversible cessation of brain function has occurred and that the spirit form and the consciousness-block have left the Colliculus Superior, which means all body functions cease and the body cannot be revived. Billy further explains that we have no right to interfere with our natural, biological death, because we bear the responsibility for our life and must fulfil our evolutive duty until our last breath. We must do our utmost to reach the end of our natural life span and to die with dignity. Therefore we must not shorten our lives by unnatural means like suicide and euthanasia or by sending a brain dead person to theatre and harvesting the organs, which will then cause the biological death. To help a person die with dignity, we need to create a quiet, peaceful, and harmonious environment within ourselves and around the dying person, because during the dying phase the human being is extremely sensitive and marked by a highgrade ‹Feinfühligkeit› (finesensitivity), through which he/she even perceives stirrings of the feelings that are transmitted from persons standing around. Therefore we need to be extremely careful with our thoughts and feelings and control them well if we are near a dying person. And great care must be taken that wailing, speaking or any other noises are avoided under all circumstances in order not to disturb the peaceful mystery of dying, into which the consciousness of the dying human being enters or has already entered. Billy states that in fact it must be viewed as deliberate cruelty when a human being in the dying state is disturbed by anything or it is attempted to call him/her back into the acute consciousness.