In a matter of hours Sam Schmid would be dead.
The Arizona college student was in an accident in October and doctors had been itchin’ to harvest his organ for a while. Finally, his parents agreed. Sam did not.
Hours before they were to harvest his organs Sam woke up.
Sam Schmid, an Arizona college student who was thought to be brain dead, recovered from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in October just hours before he was slated to be killed and his organs given to other patients.
If only he had the common decency to stay dead. Sheesh.
Brain dead just ain’t what it used to be.
December 23, 2011 at 11:48 am
We don't have the actual details of Sam's case, but I suspect there were some serious errors in how his brain death was evaluated. The process is rather tedious and if done incorrectly, can lead to an improper diagnosis.
December 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm
There was an article in the Detroit Free Press a few years ago detailing the procedure for harvesting organs. Before the organs are harvested, the donor is given pain medication. I was stunned; if you're dead, why would you need pain meds?
December 23, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Actually the media got the story wrong. The man was never slated to have his organs removed. While his recovery was amazing, the other aspect of the story is simply false.
Take a look at this article at First Things by Wesley J. Smith http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/12/22/comatose-man-not-really-poised-to-be-an-organ-donor/
December 23, 2011 at 4:32 pm
One interesting thing about 'brain death' is the research they've done on comatose patients using hookups to the brain, where they ask them to think about certain things and see what brain regions light up. (After testing the process on conscious patients.) Apparently, many people we thought were 'brain dead' are actually 'brain alive' but have no way of moving their body–you can actually communicate with them if you have the right equipment!
This is actually a great point in favor of 1. reading interesting things to comatose people. (Maybe investing in audio lectures for them) and 2. Getting a great liberal arts education BEFORE you end up in a coma— so that when you're trapped in your head for years at a time, you have something interesting to think about!
December 24, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Creepy:
“But he didn’t have a blood clot in the most vital part of his brain, which we know he can’t recover from. And he didn’t have a massive stroke that would predict no chance of a useful existence.”
A useful existence, hm?
December 27, 2011 at 7:27 pm
This is the reason I *do not* want my organs donated. Hovering around him waiting for him to die rather than trying to help him.
Sheesh!
January 8, 2012 at 7:19 pm
In 1972, my 16 year old brain dead brother (the top of his head gone under a sugar beet truck) went to waste. I was in the car, I saw it. I am a blood donor and will donate my organs if that comes about. Doctors ate not vultures.