Christina Green, Organ Transplants, and Rules

I've written about the mass killing in Tuscon. (January 9, 2011) The youngest victim, Christina Green, is in the news again: Some of her organs are now in another child.¹

I'm glad to hear that some good has come of Jared Loughner's decision to kill people, earlier this month. Not that recovering organs from Christina Green makes it all better. Killing a half-dozen people like that, and wounding many more, is quite simply wrong. No matter what can be salvaged from the wreckage.

About organ transplants, organ donation, and other examples of people learning new ways to save lives and maintain health: The Catholic Church is okay with it.

As long as a few - you guessed it - rules are followed:

"Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good that is sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorous act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2296)

Maybe that sounds picky: the part about needing explicit consent. Saying that killing someone for their organs is a no-no limits a person's choices, too.

I mean to say, who makes up these rules?

And that's another topic.

Related posts:

• "Stem Cell Research: Backed by the Vatican, No Kidding"
  (April 28, 2010)
• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  (March 4, 2010)
• "Vaccines, Aborted Babies, and Catholic Bioethics"
  (October 26, 2009)
• "Death, Dying, Dignity, Intravenous Tubes and Catholic Teachings"
  (September 22, 2009)
• "Face Transplant: We Can Do it, But is it Right?"
  (May 6, 2009)

In the news:

• "Young AZ victim's dad: Boston girl received organs"
  Boston Globe (boston.com) (January 16, 2011)
• "Christina Green's Donated Organs Save Girl's Life"
  Peter Busch, KPHO, Phoenix (January 15, 2011)
• "Father: Organs of youngest Tucson victim donated to 'little girl in Boston' "
  This Just In, CNN (January 14, 2011)

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¹Excerpts from The Boston Globe and CNN articles on Christina Green and organ donation:

"...John Green tells The Boston Globe in Sunday's edition that he received a phone call about the transplant, but he doesn't know any other details about the donation.

"He says the call 'really lifted' his spirit and he and his wife are proud parents once again of their daughter, 'who has done another amazing thing.'..."
(Boston Globe)

"The father of Christina Green, the youngest of six people killed January 8 at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' meet-and-greet outside an Arizona supermarket, told CNN Friday that some of his daughter's organs 'went to a little girl in Boston.'

" 'It was very poignant to find out. That's what Christina was all about,' John Green said. 'It's a blessing.'

"Asked whether he and his wife would like to meet the girl who received the organ one day if she were willing, John Green said, 'Oh yes, and I'd give her a big hug.'

"On Thursday, Christina's family, friends, classmates and hundreds of mourners filled St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Tucson for a funeral, all of them passing under a giant American flag that was recovered in the aftermath of the terror attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 - the day Christina was born...."
(CNN)