Critical organ donation warnings and guidance in new pamphlet: “Do not do an Apnea test!”

By Steve Jalsevac

April 26, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. Paul Byrne has been on a personal mission for many years to warn the public about the alarming facts and dangers of the $20 billion dollar-a-year organ transplant industry.  At the International Conference for Life in Vatican City February 25, Byrne and other distinguished speakers, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, addressed serious concerns regarding so-called “brain death”, the apnea test and organ transplantation. Dr. Bryne also introduced a new 29-page booklet produced by his Life Guardian Foundation containing crucial information to assist the public in making informed decisions about organ donation.

The new Life Guardian booklet which Dr. Byrne briefly describes in a LifeSiteNews video interview recorded in Rome, is divided into six main sections:

• Facts About Being an Organ Donor - What you don’t know can kill you
• Do Your Organs Belong to the Government?
• Are You Thinking About Organ Transplantation? Making an Informed Decision
• Manipulation of Beginning and End of Human Life
• Catholic Teaching on Death and Organ Transplantation

The last part of the booklet contains tear-out forms, with instructions, intended to protect its readers from premature declarations of death that can result in imposed death, followed by subsequent unethical removal of their organs.

Dr. Byrne believes such forms are necessary due to increasingly hurried and flawed death declarations and the very aggressive tactics of the organ transplant industry.

The first form, a basic, Power of Attorney for Health Care, is followed by three complimentary, additional forms:

1. Directions to Protect and Preserve Life for Power of Attorney for Health Care
2. Directions to Protect and Protect and Preserve Life and Health Care Representative Serving as an Agent for Dependent Person who is a Minor or Mentally incapacitated person
3. Directions to Protect and Preserve Life to be carried at all times in case of sudden accident or serious illness

Each of he last three forms includes the strict, bolded direction, “Do not hasten death. Do not shorten death. Do not do an apnea test. Do not take any organ for transplantation or any other purpose.”
The reference to the apnea test reflects grave concerns by Dr. Bryne and other medical professionals that this deadly procedure frequently hastens the death of those being “tested,” some of whom might yet recover, since they are deprived of ventilation for the dangerously long period of time set to determine if they can breathe on their own.

Byrne writes, “Knowing full well how critical the ventilator is, to withdraw it when it is needed most is absurd! Yet, it is planned for the patient to be taken off for up to 10 minutes - the patient can only get worse! This test is sometimes lethal. Make sure to instruct all medical staff: “Do not do an Apnea test!”

Dr. Byrne contacted LifeSiteNews to add, “carbon dioxide normally remains below 45 in us and when a patient is on a ventilator, the goal is to keep the carbon dioxide below 45. When doing an apnea test (the test for sleep apnea is not an apnea test), the respiration supporting ventilator is taken from the patient causing the carbon dioxide to increase to at least 60, and sometimes higher. When the carbon dioxide goes to these levels, swelling in the brain occurs or gets worse if it is already present. This is tantamount to suffocation.”

“The ventilator can be effective only in someone living” emphasizes Byrne. “The ventilator pushes air into the lungs; the air goes out (exhaled) only when and because the living body pushes it out. This does not occur in a cadaver/corpse/dead body.”

Although parts of the Life Guardian Pamphlet are directed to Catholics who are considering becoming organ donors, there is also much medical/ethical information applicable to a more general audience.

The medical credentials of Dr. Byrne have given considerable weight to the credibility of his presentations on the controversial topics which he has traveled to numerous countries to speak about. The new booklet describes Byrnes credentials as follows:

Dr. Paul Byrne, a Neonatologist is Director of Neonatology and Director of Pediatrics at St. Charles Mercy Hospital in Oregon, Ohio; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Toledo College of Medicine; Board Certified in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine: Member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars; past-President of the Catholic Medical Association (USA); and author of numerous articles on “brain death” and organ transplantation in medical and law journals and lay press. He is the producer of the film Continuum of Life and the author of Life, Life Support and Death, Beyond Brain Death, and Brain Death is Not Death. Dr. Byrne has presented testimony on life-death issues to nine state legislatures beginning in 1967, He opposed Dr. Jack Kevorkian on Cross-Fire, and has appeared on Good Morning America, the BBC documentary, “Are the donors really dead?” and public television in Japan.

See yesterday’s related LifeSiteNews report with many other related links, Dad rescues ‘brain dead’ son from doctors wishing to harvest his organs - boy recovers completely

Link:

• Critical organ donation warnings and guidance in new pamphlet: “Do not do an Apnea test!”

Related:

• Dad rescues ‘brain dead’ son from doctors wishing to harvest his organs – boy recovers completely

Dad rescues ‘brain dead’ son from doctors wishing to harvest his organs – boy recovers completely

From LifeSiteNews.com:

LEICESTER, England, April 25, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to the Daily Mail newspaper, a young British man owes his life to an insistent father who would not allow his son’s organs to be removed from his body, despite assurances from four doctors that his son could not recover from the wounds he had suffered in a recent car accident.

The Mail reports that Stephen Thorpe, then 17, was placed in a medically-induced coma following a multi-car pileup that had already taken the life of his friend Matthew, who was driving the vehicle.

Although a team of four physicians insisted that his son was “brain-dead” following the wreck, Thorpe’s father enlisted the help of a general practitioner and a neurologist, who demonstrated that his son still had brain wave activity.  The doctors agreed to bring him out of the coma, and five weeks later Thorpe left the hospital, having almost completely recovered.

Today, the 21-year-old with “brain damage” is studying accounting at a local university. “‘My impression is maybe the hospital weren’t very happy that my father wanted a second opinion,” he told the Mail.

The case is similar to dozens of others LifeSiteNews has reported in recent years, in which comatose or otherwise unconscious patients are declared to be “brain dead,” or hopelessly incurable. In many cases, aggressive doctors seek the organs of the patient for harvesting.

In 2011, the Quebec Hospital Sainte Croix de Drummondville sought permission to extract the eyes of a patient who had choked on hospital food in the absence of a nurse, claiming she was “brain dead.” After the family demanded proof from physicians of her alleged condition, she regained consciousness, and recovered most of her faculties. The family declared its intention to sue the hospital.

In 2008, a 45-year-old Frenchman revived on the operating table as doctors prepared to “harvest” his organs for donation, following cardiac arrest. In the subsequent investigation by the hospital’s ethics committee, a number of doctors admitted that such cases, while rare, were well known to them.

That same year, a “brain dead” 21-year-old American, Zack Dunlap, was about to have his organs harvested when his two sisters, both nurses, decided to test the hospital’s theory that his brain was no longer functioning. Family members poked his feet with a knife and dug their fingernails under his nails, provoking strong reactions by Dunlap and proving he was conscious. He recovered completely. He later related that he was conscious and aware as doctors discussed harvesting his organs in his presence.

The term “brain death” was invented in 1968 to accommodate the need to acquire vital organs in their “freshest” state from a donor who some argue is still very much alive.

While death had previously been defined as lack of respiration and heart activity, “brain death” was judged as compatible with an otherwise living patient. “Brain death” has never been rigorously defined, and there are no standardized tests to determine if the condition exists.

Dr. John Shea, a medical advisor to LifeSiteNews.com, points out that patients diagnosed as “brain dead” often continue to exhibit brain functions.

In “Organ Donation: The Inconvenient Truth”, Shea states that the criteria for “brain death” only “test for the absence of some specific brain reflexes. Functions of the brain that are not considered are temperature control, blood pressure, cardiac rate and salt and water balance. When a patient is declared brain dead, these functions are not only still present, but also frequently active.”

A list of articles by LifeSiteNews on comotose and “brain dead” patients who unexpectedly recovered follows:

* Brain dead’ woman recovers after husband refuses to withdraw life support
* Woman Diagnosed as “Brain Dead” Walks and Talks after Awakening
* ‘Brain dead’ Quebec woman wakes up after family refuses organ donation
* Doctor Says about “Brain Dead” Man Saved from Organ Harvesting - “Brain Death is Never Really Death”
* Doctors Who Almost Dissected Living Patient Confess Ignorance about Actual Moment of Death
* New study questions “brain-death” criterion for organ donation
* Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo
* Polish Man Wakes from 19-Year “Coma”, Talks and Expected to Walk Soon
* Man Wakes from Two-Year Coma – was Aware and Remembers Everything
* Boy in “Hopeless” Vegetative State Awakens and Steadily Improves
* Commentary: The Significance of that Case of the Man Trapped in a “Coma” for 23 Years
* Girl Once Comatose and Scheduled for Euthanasia Will Testify against Attacker
* ‘Comatose’ UK Man Chooses Life by Moving Eyes
* Woman’s Waking After Brain Death Raises Many Questions About Organ Donation
* Russian Surgeons Removing Organs Saying Patients Almost Dead Anyway
* Denver Coroner Rules “Homicide” in Organ-Donor Case

Related links:

The boy who came back from the dead: Experts said car crash teen was beyond hope. His parents disagreed

Link:

• Dad rescues ‘brain dead’ son from doctors wishing to harvest his organs – boy recovers completely

Mitt Romney To Travel Back In Time To Kill Liberal Versions Of Himself

Catholic Missionary Suing Government Willing to Risk Health Over HHS Mandate

From in caritate non ficta:

Please pray for my dear friend, Stacy Molai, who is suing the HHS over the current mandate. Article from PR Newswire:

DENVER, March 6, 2012. A missionary with FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, is one of two private citizens who has joined states, senators and others in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' mandate that nearly all health insurance plans cover contraceptives free of charge, says she would give up her critically important health insurance if the mandate is not overturned.

Stacy Molai, of Omaha, Neb., suffers from Crohn's disease and says her health insurance coverage is critical in order to avoid financial ruin and possibly life-threatening consequences. Medical supplies for her condition cost up to $400 every month.

Molai, 31, raises her own salary as a lay Catholic missionary and says that, "Should the mandate be upheld, I would gladly give up my insurance coverage, despite the very real risk that would pose to my financial well-being and my health."

"The government mandate violates my constitutional guarantee of the Freedom of Association," Molai added. "I'm no longer free to associate with another Catholic employer without grave risks in abandoning a grandfathered insurance policy. I have had four surgeries and countless hospitalizations because of my Crohn's disease."

"But my relationship with Jesus Christ is at the core of who I am, and the government mandate violates my unalienable rights by interfering with that sacred relationship. I'm no longer free to follow the dictates of my conscience and the teaching of my Church without great financial and health risks. That's not freedom."

Jeremy Rivera, director of communications at FOCUS, stated that, "FOCUS is proud to have a woman like Stacy among our missionary staff. As her employer, we stand in solidarity with her and her convictions to remain true to her conscience and to exercise her religious liberty in the face of the government's proposed HHS mandate. Given the reality of Stacy's serious health issues, her courage should inspire all Catholics and people of faith to reinforce the necessity to overturn this unjust law."

At the March for Life with Stacy in 2010:

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Atheists Step Up 'It's Time to Quit the Catholic Church' Campaign

FFRF Plans to Run Full Page Ad to Fight Catholics' 'War Against Contraception'

By Alex Murashko , Christian Post Reporter

(The Christian Post) An atheist activist group is fighting the Catholic Church's "war against contraception" by stepping up its campaign that suggests believers should end their faithfulness to their religion.

The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation plans to run a full-page ad in The New York Times that states, "It's Time to Quit the Catholic Church." FFRF is conducting a fundraiser to pay for the $52,000 ad and has collected $45,000 so far, according to a chart on the group's website.

The FFRF campaign began last month in light of opposition from the Catholic Church to the Obama administration's decision that seeks to guarantee employees of church and ministry-affiliated institutions reproductive health coverage, including contraception, abortifacients and sterilization.

"Dear 'Liberal' Catholic," an open letter written by the group's co-president, Annie Laurie Gaylor, begins. "It's time to quit the Roman Catholic Church. It's your moment of truth. Will it be reproductive freedom, or back to the Dark Ages? Do you choose women and their rights, or Bishops and their wrongs? Whose side are you on, anyway?"

Gaylor called the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' opposition to mandatory free contraception to employees of religious organizations a "ruthless campaign endangering the right to contraception."

"If you're part of the Catholic Church, you're part of the problem," she continued. "Why are you propping up the pillars of a tyrannical and autocratic, woman-hating, sex-perverting, antediluvian Old Boys Club? Why are you aiding and abetting a church that has repeatedly and publicly announced a crusade to ban contraception, abortion and sterilization, and to deny the right of all women everywhere, Catholic or not, to decide whether and when to become mothers? When it comes to reproductive freedom, the Roman Catholic Church is Public Enemy Number One."

Last Thursday, the Senate rejected by a 51-48 vote a bill that would have permitted religious employers to refuse to cover medical services that violated their moral and religious convictions.

A Catholic political action group is targeting the 13 Democratic senators who supported the contraception mandate and is making plans to defeat those who are up for reelection in November.

"Faithful Catholics should take the opportunity to thank those Senators supporting our religious liberties," said Matt Smith, president of the Catholic Advocate, a group that encourages Catholics to be active in the political process. "It is our duty as laity to hold those who did not support our values accountable and vote our conscience when the time comes."

Evangelical columnist Chuck Colson recently argued that the way the issue of free contraception through health care has played out among its supporters is deceitful and "downright shameful."

"They say this is all about protecting women's access to contraception. This is, folks, the biggest red herring I've seen in politics. It's garbage, and they know it," Colson said. "Shame on them. Nobody is saying they shouldn't have access to contraceptives. Any woman can go to virtually any drug store and purchase them. Even drugs that induce abortion. As I told you last week, these things are even available in vending machines now!"

The scathing letter against Catholics by Gaylor included a paragraph that reads: "You're better than your church. So why? Why continue to attend Mass? Tithe? Why dutifully sacrifice to send your children to parochial schools so they can be brainwashed into the next generation of myrmidons (and, potentially, become the next Church victims)?"

Gaylor continued, "It is disgraceful that U.S. health care reform is being held hostage to the Catholic Church's bizarre opposition to medically prescribed contraception. No politician should jeopardize electability for failure to genuflect before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."

However, Colson wrote that the national debate is not really about contraception.

"Folks, women's access to contraception is not the issue here. They have it. In spades. What's really going on is that the Obama Administration wants women to have access to FREE contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. It's an ideological imperative for them. And such niceties as the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom just don't matter in comparison," Colson stated.

"Make no mistake: What we are witnessing is indeed the leading edge of tyranny," Colson concluded.

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Dingy Reid Slams “Extreme Ideological” Amendment Allowing Catholic Groups To Opt Out of Contraception Mandate…

From Weasel Zippers:

Allowing people to exercise their First Amendment rights is “extreme” in the left’s eyes.

Via The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) set the stage for a tense vote the Senate will hold on Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) contraception amendment Thursday morning, claiming it was yet another instance of the Senate being hijacked by the far right.

“Today the Senate will vote on a extreme ideological amendment to the transportation bill,” said Reid. “[T]his amendment has no place on a transportation bill.”

The amendment would reverse the Obama administration’s ruling that health plans must offer contraception coverage, even those offered by church-related organizations. A vote on the amendment should begin just after 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Related:

• TRENDING: Romney stumbles over question about GOP contraception push
• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Fact-Check: Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate?
• Fact-Check Followup: Regulations Prove Romney Wrong, Show Consequences of Emergency Contraception Decision

TRENDING: Romney stumbles over question about GOP contraception push

Columbus, Ohio (CNN) - Mitt Romney's campaign scrambled to clean up another unforced error by their candidate Wednesday after he came out against a controversial amendment pushed by Senate Republicans that would allow employers to opt out of health care coverage they disagree with on moral grounds...

In the sit down interview with Ohio's ONN, Romney was asked whether he supported the Blunt measure.
"The issue of birth control, contraception, Blunt-Rubio is being debated, I believe, later this week. It deals with banning or allowing employers to ban providing female contraception," asked the reporter, Jim Heath. "Have you taken a position on it? He (Santorum) said he was for that, we'll talk about personhood in a second; but he's for that, have you taken a position?"

Romney responded: "I'm not for the bill, but look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a women, husband and wife, I'm not going there."

Read More

Link:

• TRENDING: Romney stumbles over question about GOP contraception push

Related:

• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Fact-Check: Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate?
• Fact-Check Followup: Regulations Prove Romney Wrong, Show Consequences of Emergency Contraception Decisio

Newt Gingrich Super PAC: Meet the Men Who Gave us ObamaCare

From Allah Pundit via Free Republic:

"Philip Klein calls it the best anti-RomneyCare ad of the cycle. I agree. And thanks to the largesse of Newt’s billionaire buddy Sheldon Adelson, this one’s going on the air in Florida with a $6 million ad buy — so huge that WaPo political blogger Aaron Blake calls it “game-changing.” In fact, despite Newt’s post-South Carolina windfall of campaign cash, it sounds like his Super PAC will be doing the heavy organizational lifting from now on..."

Romney's Remedy

By Avik Roy, Contributor

(Forbes) Lucas Baiano, the former Tim Pawlenty adman who has become infamous for his Michael Bay-like over-the-top political ads, complete with explosive sound effects and over-the-top rhetoric, has produced a new ad for Rick Perry on Romneycare. It’s getting a lot of play in conservative circles.

The ad opens with President Obama looking in the mirror, and seeing a sinister-looking Romney in his reflection, and later quotes Romney saying, “I like mandates,” and telling Tim Russert that “I would” strive to apply the Massachusetts model to the rest of the country. “Even the richest man can’t buy back his past,” concludes the ad...

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