Organ Donation

A Resolution of the Lutheran Church in America, 1984

Adopted by the Twelfth Biennial Convention of the Lutheran Church in America, Toronto, Ontario, 1984

Preamble

I. Over the last thirty years organ and tissue transplantation has evolved from an experimental, last resort to a standard procedure of potential benefit to many. The remarkable successes of various transplantation procedures have resulted in a situation where demand for donor organs and tissue vastly exceeds the supply. As a consequence, concerns have arisen about the possible buying and selling of organs, the inequitable distribution of the existing supply, and the high cost of transplantation. These concerns have been reflected in various memorials from synods requesting biennial conventions of the Lutheran Church in America to encourage and facilitate the practice of organ donation.

II. In 1982 a convention of the LCA adopted the Social Statement "Death and Dying" which indicated that patients, their families, and all individuals have a responsibility to consider "the possibility of organ donation as a means of sharing life with others:' That same convention requested the Division for Mission in North America to consider organ donation in its ongoing work in bioethics. (1982 LCAM, p. 319; 1984 LCAM, p. 414.)

III. In response to these requests and in the context of the current congressional, parliamentary and other public policy discussion of organ donation, distribution and transplantation, the LCA adopts the following resolution:

WHEREAS the success of various organ and tissue transplantation procedures has resulted in a situation where demand for donor organs and tissue vastly exceeds supply; and

WHEREAS pressures have developed toward the buying (overseas) and selling of organs and other coercive attempts to secure organs from potential donors; and

WHEREAS geography, chance, economic status and access to the media play disproportionate roles in determining who will receive organs for transplantation; and

WHEREAS opinion polls show that there is widespread willingness to donate organs upon death but also widespread misconception about organ donation procedures, and that relatively few persons have signed donor cards; and

WHEREAS the Lutheran Church in America Social Statement "Death and Dying" (1982) indicated that patients, their families and all individuals have a responsibility to consider "the possibility of organ donation as a means of sharing life with others";

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Lutheran Church in America:

1. regards the donation of cadaver organs as an appropriate means of contributing to the health and well-being of the human family,

2. recognizes that the donation of renewable tissue (e.g., bone marrow) and live organs (e.g., a kidney) can be an expression of sacrificial love for a neighbor in need,

3. encourages its members to consider the possibility of organ donation and to communicate their wishes to family members, physicians and health care institutions,

4. encourages those willing to donate to make the necessary familial and legal arrangements including the use of a signed donor card,

5. calls upon its pastors to acquaint themselves with the ethical and legal issues and clinical procedures involved in order that they may counsel persons and families considering the possibility of donation,

6. urges its pastors, congregations, synods, agencies and institutions to sponsor educational programs on organ donation, and

7. calls upon government to establish public policies which will encourage voluntary donations, discourage coercive donation, assure the efficient, equitable distribution of human organs and tissues for transplants, and disallow both the sale and purchase of human organs.