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<H1><SPAN id=ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblTitle><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Rabbi: Organ donations OK without dead's
consent</FONT></SPAN></H1>
<DIV class=author><SPAN id=ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblAuthor
class=author><SPAN class=ExpertOrAutherLink><FONT face="Times New Roman">By
</FONT><A href="http://www.jpost.com/Authors/AuthorPage.aspx?id=156"
target=_blank><FONT face="Times New Roman">JEREMY
SHARON</FONT></A></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=date><SPAN
id=ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblDateAndHour class=datetime><FONT
face="Times New Roman">06/14/2012 18:50</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=date><SPAN class=datetime><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=date><A
title=http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=273895
href="http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=273895">http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=273895</A></DIV>
<DIV class=date><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=date><FONT face="Times New Roman">In part the article
reads:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">“The assumption that a man is master of his
own life is problematic, because in fact it is a gift from the creator and he is
the one who decides how and when life ends.”<BR><BR>Robby Berman, founder and
director of the Halachic Organ Donor Society, said that despite the positive
intentions of Arusi to deal with the low number of <SPAN7660595></FONT><A
style="COLOR: ; TEXT-DECORATION: " id=Y7660595S0
href="http://serw.clicksor.com/newServing/go.php?nid=1&cpx=cpc&uid=20615293457215&pid=250742&sid=404133&spid=0&kw=organ%2Bdonations&af=0&rf=0&curl=http%3A%2F%2F61518.xml.admanage.com%2Fxml%2Fclick%2F%3Fm%3D61518%26f%3D44143%26r%3D236655821%26p%3D0%26h%3Dshopr.com"
target=_blank><FONT color=#000000 face="Times New Roman">organ
donation</FONT></A></SPAN7660595><FONT face="Times New Roman">s in Israel, he
would not encourage a rabbinical court to overrule a family’s wishes for dealing
with a loved one.<BR><BR>He added that an opt-out system, whereby a presumption
is made that someone is an organ donor unless they specifically state they do
not want to do so, has similar problems to those of Arusi’s
proposal.</FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>CM comments:</DIV>
<DIV>The article mentions that the common assumption that you are the master of
your life (read owner of your body) deals with this issue while you are alive.
But it occurred to me as I read the article, the more relevant but not discussed
issue is control of the body after death. (without getting into the issue of
when and on what basis one declares death, I think it is clear to all deleka man
depalig, there is no ownership (control) after death (nor ownership of your body
according to the Rabbi in this article even during life). Thus you have the
perfect basis in halacha (at least from the Choshen Mishpot perspective)
for an opt out system. Ie, as the dead body is ownerless, there is no reason why
it should not be used to save lives where the only objection might be the
unknown wishes of the person who died – IOW the lack of an opt in). But where
the family or the deceased is known to object we may defer to them for various
other non-Choshen Mishpot reason even though they may not actually “own” or
control the body of the deceased.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kol Tuv</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chaim Manaster</DIV>
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