Sad thread will be sad

Didn't Will Smith already make this movie?

And the guy can't even do it because of our backwards-ass legal system.

I hate America sometimes.

The difference is taking organs from a living person is illegal and ethically wrong, said John Banja, an ethicist at the Center for Ethics at Emory University.

"A health care provider can't commit homicide," Banja said. "If you cut him open and take his organs while he's still alive, you are committing homicide."

I recommend a trip to Brazil. They'll do it for free.

The only good murder is government-sanctioned murder, amirite Texas?

"so why not donate his organs -- heart, lungs, liver -- now, while he's alive"

umm.. cause you wont be alive if you donate those things??

I'd love to see him be able to do this, but the doctor explains the slippery slope argument pretty well. Once doctors are forced with having to save one patient while killing another (even if they're fully compliant), the ethics issues involved become a mess. If they can find some way of not involving a doctor until after he's dead (ie killing the brain, but sustaining blood flow) then I don't see any reason why this shouldn't happen.

Um, he has an incurable disease that we don't know a lot about. Who has any idea how that will affect the viability of his organs?

It has to do with a little more than his O-positive blood type and his assurance that his organs are viable.

FTFA:
"I'm sure my organs are viable. And I realize what I'm proposing can be controversial," Garry Phebus said.

Why doesn't he just kill himself in the conventional way so they can get his organs then? What's so special about getting organs while he's still alive?

Hmm, the needs of many outweigh the needs of a few. Let the man do some good in the world for Chrissake!
/nuff said

He doesn't look like an indian to me.

nirvana: Um, he has an incurable disease that we don't know a lot about. Who has any idea how that will affect the viability of his organs?

It has to do with a little more than his O-positive blood type and his assurance that his organs are viable.

To be fair, many people on the donor list would be happy to take his organs, knowing that it gives them a much better chance at extending their life than their current ones. Worst case: offer them up with full disclosure and see if there are takers.

While this guy should be allowed to do whatever he wants {of himself}, i would certainly not want to be the physician performing the, for lack of a better term, "transplant".

Though situation really. At least he has got big huge Mclarge brass balls to even propose this. I raise my hat to him.

jack21221: Why doesn't he just kill himself in the conventional way so they can get his organs then? What's so special about getting organs while he's still alive?

If I understand the article right, he believes that he'd be able to donate more organs this way: if he's still alive then they aren't as damaged. That said, I'm forced to question the actual viability of his organs, given that he has a degenerative disease.

This is a great case for doctor assisted suicide.
If he is willing to give up his life to save others, who are we, as a society, to tell him no.

Being alive he can be studied to help doctors understand more of the disease. He should consider donating his time to research and then when it takes him he can donate his organs under the dead donor rule. By being in a hospital he would have the optimal timing for donation.

Also, he can refuse treatment to end his suffering quicker if he decides to. He is truly a hero.

An ex of mine has ALS, the story is here:

http://www.canlyme.com/NFLALS2004.html

It is so sad.

My dad died of ALS. The whole f-ing disease sucks. Yes, he is a dead man walking, and this is a shiat-ton better way of leaving this world than the torture he would experience otherwise. It's humane, not immoral.

TsukasaK: backwards-ass legal system

I too have trouble seeing why suicide is illegal, especially for the terminally ill.

An article a while back talked about a problem with living wills as currently implemented. Most places only recognize some form of "don't give me life-sustaining treatment if I have a terminal prognosis." Then they don't realize this means "if I have Alzheimer's and get pneumonia, don't give me antibiotics". (Root of the problem: End of life is only knowable retroactively, so it's hard to tell in real-time what exactly is "end of life care.")

Allowing suicide would fix that problem. Someone with Alzheimer's and pneumonia could choose antibiotics, while someone with pancreatic cancer could choose the guillotine.

Procrastinus Maximus: While this guy should be allowed to do whatever he wants {of himself}, i would certainly not want to be the physician performing the, for lack of a better term, "transplant".

...and that's part of the problem: he can't find a doctor willing to do so. Should a doctor be forced to kill against their conscience?

nirvana: He doesn't look like an indian to me.

It skips a generation.

ALS is horrible. That is all.

DblDad: His vision is doubled and blurred. A machine helps him breath while he's sleeps. And He is unable to walk more than a short distance.

Was this article copyedited by a 3rd grader?

When "He" is capitalized they're talking about God, duh.

jack21221: Why doesn't he just kill himself in the conventional way so they can get his organs then? What's so special about getting organs while he's still alive?

Timing. Organs don't keep. If it's run by the system, they can make use of as many of his organs as possible by waiting until a full body's worth of material is needed and then killing him at that moment.

I know if I was dying of a terminal disease that threatened to make my last moments incredibly miserable, I'd hope to be strong enough for this kind of deal.

Personally, I always wonder if the hippocratic oath doesn't do more damage than good here. I'll bet there are a lot of people with "you're gonna die in 2 years in excruciating pain and misery" who would sign themselves to death if they thought it would do some good to somebody. Research, too.

"Hey guys, wanna find out what a human brain halfway to end-stage Alzheimers looks like, first-hand? Think it would help find a cure? I sure as hell ain't gonna be using it."

Gaseous Anomaly: I too have trouble seeing why suicide is illegal, especially for the terminally ill.

Its not.

or do you mean Assisted Suicide?

Evil_ferret: Being alive he can be studied to help doctors understand more of the disease. He should consider donating his time to research and then when it takes him he can donate his organs under the dead donor rule. By being in a hospital he would have the optimal timing for donation.

This. If his goal is doing good in the world -an admirable goal, to be sure- then he stands to do a lot more of it by assisting research into his own condition.

It's probably hard to find a doctor willing to eviscerate someone for organ donation, who isn't brain-dead - the patient that is.

kvinesknows: Its not.

It is.

TheFlyingGoat: nirvana: Um, he has an incurable disease that we don't know a lot about. Who has any idea how that will affect the viability of his organs?

It has to do with a little more than his O-positive blood type and his assurance that his organs are viable.

To be fair, many people on the donor list would be happy to take his organs, knowing that it gives them a much better chance at extending their life than their current ones. Worst case: offer them up with full disclosure and see if there are takers.

Worst case: you just infected someone who just needed a kidney with ALS. Since doctors don't know whether or not that is possible, don't you think it might be a good idea not to do something like that?

Millennium: If I understand the article right, he believes that he'd be able to donate more organs this way: if he's still alive then they aren't as damaged. That said, I'm forced to question the actual viability of his organs, given that he has a degenerative disease.

ALS only affects motor neurons and is neurodegenerative. So other than being slightly decreased in size from the natural atrophy of the disease his organs are likely in tip top shape.

Unless he's on some of the more experimental drugs for ALS which can cause kidney and liver damage.

TheFlyingGoat:
To be fair, many people on the donor list would be happy to take his organs, knowing that it gives them a much better chance at extending their life than their current ones. Worst case: offer them up with full disclosure and see if there are takers.

Is full disclosure possible? There is the possibility that those who take his organs would have lived longer with their own, or found a better donor. You can't tell them anything except "we don't know what will happen". Which begs the question of if you don't know if they will be better or worse off, then why do it at all?

There is also the possibility that he lives ten more years and in those ten years a cure for ALS is found (though not likely). That results in a myriad of other ethical problems.

This is presented as a paradox. To let him do what he wants is to say that he should have the right to do what he wants with his body. But the rational many are presenting is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, thus rejecting his personal right to do what he wants.

Treygreen13: El Chode: The only good murder is government-sanctioned murder, amirite Texas?

Why hello there, Trolly McTrollpants.

Many states adopt the unequivocal message that "killing a person is wrong unless a jury of your peers says its not". If anyone is trolling, it's the entire state of Texas

Marisyana: I would imagine because like most humans he doesn't like pain and he knows he'd be knocked out during the harvest.

There are painless ways to kill yourself.

ksmo: My dad died of ALS. The whole f-ing disease sucks. Yes, he is a dead man walking, and this is a shiat-ton better way of leaving this world than the torture he would experience otherwise. It's humane, not immoral.

My dad did too. It is one of the most difficult things to watch happen to someone you love. The only thing is my dad's organs couldn't be used, the liver was shot the lungs full of tar and I'm sure his heart wasn't all that great anymore.

spman: So on the one hand he is quoting the bible to justify his decision, why on the other hand he essentially wants to commit suicide, which is the one unforgivable sin? I don't get it.

People make up their own religion all the time. To paraphrase Doug Stanhope, "Sure, I believe in Jesus and be good to your neighbor and all that. What? Premarital sex? No no, I think that was a misprint."

jack21221: Marisyana: I would imagine because like most humans he doesn't like pain and he knows he'd be knocked out during the harvest.

There are painless ways to kill yourself.

Suicide *is* painless.

/and brings on many changes

Afraid of pain or dying doesn't matter, as ALS guarantees both. He just wants the most good to come from the pain and dying.