re: Dad pulls gun to stop son from being removed from life support, saves son's life

Shoot Mom, then take her off life support.

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Yep. Your organs are commodities if you are on that list. I'm sure I'll get all sorts of "that's not true" replies, but trust me, I know how it is handled from one of the few people who do it for a living. You may want to read the fine print on those organ donor pledges, especially in Texas...

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For anyone reading who's horrified, take it firsthand from a guy who works in the field rather than a guy who "knows a guy." This doesn't happen.

You're getting paid under the table for those organs, bro. No one is going to listen to you.

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John Q

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Darth_Vader


I found him


(someone had a thread looking for you earlier)

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Probably Kylo Ren.

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You arent allowed to pull someone off life support unless the power of attorney grants it, doctors cant just do it because they want to.

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Depends on where you're located.

In Alabama, if two different doctors label a person brain dead, the hospital can remove life support without anybody's permission.

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used the force reasonably necessary and calculated to save a life. A very interesting case, should it go to trial.

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Definitely.

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Do you work in the transplant operation of one of the nation's biggest hospitals?

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No. I'm part of the donor selection and screening process. More of my work is with donation after death, but I've got plenty of experience on the other side as well. I know how it all works quite well, and I'm not only talking about my experience as a physician.

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The people who work there aren't on the organ donor list - that ought to tell you something.

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As someone who spent a fair amount of time working with a state organ procurement agency, the generally irreverent way that the people treat the beautiful gift is what prevents me, personally, from wanting to be a donor. That said, for the most part, most actions deemed as irreverent are mature coping mechanisms because we're talking about people who deal with some fairly screwed up situations, and joking about it is much easier than accepting how terrible some people's luck is.

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Organ transplantation—from procurement of organs to transplant to the first year of postoperative care—is a $20 billion per year business

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Sure. It's intense care.

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These hospitals are FOR PROFIT entities.

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Interesting that you state you are from Texas. In Texas, these hospitals are barred from directly employing physicians. Sure, the physician-owned employment group is likely for-profit as well. I don't find tax status to be a particularly relevant piece of information. NPO's with high CEO and executive board salaries are no better or worse than for-profit institutions, based on nothing other than tax status. If you want to talk about specific institutions and their general outlook on patient-care and how it's affected by things other than the patient's best interest, I'd love to hear it. But hospitals have incentive to keep people alive on vents without pulling their organs out as well- they get paid plenty for that. And the patient that needs a new kidney? The patient on dialysis makes the hospital a pretty penny as well. There's money to be made in healthcare, and businesses can capitalize on it. Organ transplant is just one of many ways they may do this.

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Don't be naive.

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Naive? Your argument, as I read it, is that hospitals make money so they probably unethically kill otherwise able-to-survive humans against their will because of a state registry system. My training, work experience prior to medical school, time as a physician, and continued work in the field outside of my role in patient care all point to that being a very, very rare exception to outright untrue. Please correct my misunderstanding of your position, should it exist.

So who gets custody now?