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On this episode of the Catholic Current, Fr. McTeigue welcomes back Fr. Tad for a discussion about determining death, and the practice and ethics of human organ transplantation. They discuss the significance of brain death, and the importance of careful diagnostic assessment to assure accuracy in declarations of death. They look at some newer approaches to obtaining organs, and discuss the ethics surrounding the use of DCDD (donation after circulatory determination of death), an approach that is sometimes coupled with the use of ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a protocol for hooking up the patient to a machine that oxygenates organs. They consider the importance of integrity and transparency for the medical field in the practice of determining death, organ procurement and organ transplantation, even new technologies emerge for improving the supply of organs, including the use of genetically modified pig organs.

see also: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/31686687