The Ethics of Organ Harvesting

A San Francisco surgeon has been charged with prescribing drugs to a disabled patient in order to hasten his death and harvest his organs for transplantion. Prosecutors said a 26-year-old man had been in a coma and on life support since he suffered from cardiac arrest last year. The family of the man decided to remove him from life support in order to donate his organs, but he didn't die right away as expected. The doctor then allegedly tried "to accelerate (his) death" with morphine and another drug. Larry Mantle talks about the story and about the ethics of organ harvesting with LA Times writer Charlie Ornstein, Dr. David Goldstein of the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics at USC, and Tom Mone of the non-profit organ and tissue recovery agency, One Legacy.

A San Francisco surgeon has been charged with prescribing drugs to a disabled patient in order to hasten his death and harvest his organs for transplantion. Prosecutors said a 26-year-old man had been in a coma and on life support since he suffered from cardiac arrest last year. The family of the man decided to remove him from life support in order to donate his organs, but he didn't die right away as expected. The doctor then allegedly tried "to accelerate (his) death" with morphine and another drug. Larry Mantle talks about the story and about the ethics of organ harvesting with LA Times writer Charlie Ornstein, Dr. David Goldstein of the Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics at USC, and Tom Mone of the non-profit organ and tissue recovery agency, One Legacy.