December 11th, 2024

Organ donation possible through MAID

By GILLIAN SLADE on June 16, 2019.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

The first case of organ donation from a patient receiving medical assistance in dying took place in April, says Alberta Health Services.

For about a year all the ethical issues surrounding this have been under consideration, said Dr. Jim Silvius, AHS medical director.

Aspects to be considered included who is provided with details of the circumstances, the possibility that someone may consider MAID because they want to be an organ donor, and the rights of people on the transplant team to refuse participation based on conscience or moral objection.

Silvius says they concluded that conscientious objection by a member of a transplant team is a valid and acceptable reason to refuse to participate in a transplant.

Transplant teams in Alberta are located in Edmonton and Calgary and Silvius does not think someone choosing not to participate in the transplant will be an issue in terms of having enough members on a team.

“In other provinces it may well be an issue where they’ve got smaller pools to pull from,” said Silvius.

Because transplants are only done in Edmonton and Calgary, anyone choosing MAID and choosing to donate their organs will need to travel to one of these locations for the process, said Silvius. It also means the patient’s loved ones who want to be with them at the end will also have to travel there.

It is three years since federal legislation made MAID legal and during that time 709 Albertans have chosen this way to die.

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Dominick200
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