Catholic bioethicists are raising concerns over the absence of a unified understanding of brain death. They say the impact on organ donation is profound. The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) issued a statement on April 11 titled “Integrity in the Determination of Brain Death: Recent Challenges and Next Steps”. The NCBC highlighted a breakdown in Read more
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the National Catholic Bioethics Center have raised concerns over a potential rewriting of US law that could broaden the definition of brain death. At the heart of the matter is the Uniform Determination of Death Act, initially proposed by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in 1981. Read more
Bishops of England and Wales have welcomed a new National Health Service (NHS) campaign aimed at encouraging people to talk to their families and loved ones about their organ donation decisions. The ‘Leave Them Certain’ campaign has been launched by the NHS Blood and Transplant following a law change that has introduced an opt-out or Read more
A pair of antique instruments brought each other new life in Feilding. A collection of silent films was played with a live organ accompaniment at St John the Evangelist Anglican Church last Saturday. Read more
The provenance of organs harvested for transplants is so concerning in Australia that a federal inquiry into illegal organ harvesting has been launched. The aim is to help to deter organ trafficking and transplant tourism crimes. The Catholic church in Australia supports voluntary, legal organ donation. In a position statement in which a number of Read more
A Catholic bishop in India is to donate one of his kidneys to a poor Hindu man, in what is believed to be a world first for a bishop. Bishop Jacob Muricken completed all legal formalities on Friday so he could donate a kidney to a man who media named as E. Sooraj. Bishop Muricken, Read more
Scotland’s Catholic bishops have said a resounding “no” to a bill that would introduce an “opt-out” system for organ donation. Responding to a proposed Organ and Tissue Donation bill, the Church’s parliamentary office called an opt-out system “intrinsically discriminatory”. This is because “it denies the integrity of the person by overriding the requirement for consent Read more