IF
I GET ALZHEIMER'S,
DONATE MY ORGANS
SYNOPSIS:
If and when the fatal disease that is bringing my
life to an end is Alzheimer's,
I freely and fully endorse the plan to bring my life to a peaceful and
painless end
and then to donate all of my usable organs for the benefit of others.
When this plan was first written in 2015,
not many Alzheimer's patients had been used as organ-donors.
But because I hope to live another 20 years,
public discussion of this change in medical practice
might make it less controversial for my body to be used by medical
science
after merciful death has been chosen for me.
OUTLINE:
1. Choosing the Best Time for Me to Die
—When
My Life as a
Person is Over.
2. Employ Meaningful Safeguards to Make Life-Ending Decisions for
Me.
3. Better for Me
and Better for
those Who Benefit from the Gift
of
My Body.
4. Some Specific Ways my Body Might be Used After My Death.
IF
I GET ALZHEIMER'S,
DONATE MY ORGANS
by
James Leonard Park
1. Choosing the Best Time for Me to Die
—When
My Life as a
Person is Over.
As I sit down to write this essay,
I know clearly the difference between activities that are meaningful
and other activities that merely support my meaningful life.
Sleeping and eating are two things that I must do every day
if I am to have any meaningful life at all.
But if all of my hours are used up sleeping
and eating,
then we might ask if my meaningful life has come to an end.
I need not detail about how to
separate my life as a person
from my possible future life
as a former person
because I have written a small book on exactly this question:
When
Is a Person?
Pre-Persons & Former Persons.
My Medical
Care
Decisions Committee (MCDC) is charged with applying
the questions, tests, & criteria I have explained in great detail
to the process of deciding when my life as a person is over.
They will apply information provided by my doctors
about my current condition and future prognosis.
And they will fulfill most of the safeguards mentioned in the next
section
to make certain they are making wise decisions about my date of
death.
If Alzheimer's disease clouds my mind at the end of
my life,
I might not be able to take part in this discussion of the best
time to die.
But if I am dying of some other disease—such as cancer
—which does not substantially affect my thinking,
I will participate to
the best of my ability in my own life-ending
decisions.
Who holds the legal, official power to make my
medical decisions
will depend on many factors at the end of my life.
But the deciding-authority should be clear to everyone at that time.
Many points-of-view will be gathered in fulfilling
the safeguards below.
And the official deciders will take all such input into account
in reaching their careful decision about the best day for my death.
2.
Employ Meaningful Safeguards
to Make
Life-Ending Decisions for
Me.
The 15 safeguards listed below receive brief
explanations
in another chapter discussing how to make
end-of-life medical decisions for any patient who has
Alzheimer's:
Making
Life-Ending Decisions for Alzheimer's Patients.
And each safeguards also links to a complete
explanation on the Internet.
A. ADVANCE
DIRECTIVE
FOR MEDICAL CARE
B. REQUESTS
FOR
DEATH FROM THE
PATIENT
C.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
CONSULTANT
EVALUATES
THE
PATIENT'S ABILITY TO MAKE MEDICAL DECISIONS
D.
PHYSICIAN'S
STATEMENT
OF CONDITION AND PROGNOSIS
E. INDEPENDENT
PHYSICIAN REVIEWS THE CONDITION AND PROGNOSIS
F. CERTIFICATION
OF TERMINAL ILLNESS OR INCURABLE CONDITION
G.
PALLIATIVE
CARE
TRIAL
K.
REQUESTS
FOR
DEATH
FROM THE PROXIES
L.
ENROLLMENT
IN A
HOSPITAL OR HOSPICE
M.
STATEMENTS
FROM
HOSPITAL OR HOSPICE STAFF MEMBERS
O. A
MEMBER
OF THE
CLERGY
APPROVES
OR
QUESTIONS CHOOSING DEATH
Q. AN
INSTITUTIONAL
ETHICS COMMITTEE REVIEWS THE PLANS FOR DEATH
R. STATEMENTS
FROM
ADVOCATES FOR
DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
IF
INVITED BY
THE PATIENT AND/OR THE PROXIES
S. REVIEW
BY THE
PROSECUTOR (OR OTHER LAWYER)
BEFORE
THE DEATH
TAKES PLACE
U.
WAITING
PERIODS FOR REFLECTION
3.
Better for Me
and Better for
those Who Benefit from the Gift of
My Body.
If and when my brain deteriorates to the point at
which
I can no longer make any sense of the words you are now reading,
then it is time to bring my life to a peaceful and painless end
and to donate whatever might be useful from my body
for the benefit of other people who will live for some years after me.
To follow my philosophy of life and death,
don't keep my body 'alive' after my meaningful
life is over.
There might be some sentiment to the contrary,
that it would be wise to keep my demented self around
as some kind of a 'living memorial' to the person I once was.
But this does not correspond to my own best thinking on the subject.
The people who have known me and loved me
might not find it easy to let me go.
And I already lament that I will no longer be part of their on-going
lives.
And if any parts of my body can be used for the
benefit of other people,
they also will be glad that my life was brought to a meaningful close
before too much time and money was spent
keeping my body alive after
my mind was gone.
4.
Some Specific Ways my Body Might be Used After My Death.
Beyond donating my organs to be transplanted into
other patients,
after my death has been officially declared,
I would like to offer my remains to be used as a 'living cadaver'.
Perhaps my death will be declared and certified
on the basis of permanently
unconsciousness,
which might be achieved and maintained by mechanical or chemical
means.
I hope my donated body will be treated with respect.
And I hope that some meaningful medical research can be done
by having a 'living' body to work with,
rather than computer models, mannequins, & dead cadavers.
Here is another chapter that details several
possible uses
for a body that has been declared brain-dead:
The
Living
Cadaver: Medical Uses for Brain-Dead Bodies.
Practice
surgery, medical experiments, & anatomical study
are just three possible uses of my body after I am finished with it.
My body has served me very well for many years.
After no further meanings can be achieved by my life,
I hope my body might have some residual value for medical science.
AUTHOR:
James Park is an independent writer,
with special interests in end-of-life matters.
As explained in this essay, he wishes to donate his body to science
after he has lived as long as reasonable.
Much more will be discovered about his thinking
on
his personal website, which is the last link below.
Created
March 11, 2015
; Revised 3-14-2015; 4-4-2015; 7-21-2015; 1-19-2016; 12-23-2016;
1-30-2018; 3-28-2019; 5-12-2020;