Wait, that man's not DEAD
Man comes back to life after 90 minutes as doctors prepare to harvest organs
June 13, 2008
HIS heart had stopped beating for 90 minutes and doctors were getting ready to remove his organs for transplants.
Then, the 45-year-old Frenchman came back to life.
The case, which took place on 19Feb, is now fuelling heated ethical debates in France about when exactly is a person dead.
The man had suffered a massive heart attack and rescuers used cardiac massage to try and revive him without success.
He was then transferred to a nearby hospital.
Due to a series of complex circumstances, revival efforts on the man continued for longer than usual until doctors started preparations to remove organs.
MIRACLE REVIVAL
It was at this point that the astonished surgeons noticed the man was beginning to breathe unaided.
His pupils were active, he was giving signs that he could feel pain and his heart started beating again.
Just weeks later, the man who had nearly been taken as dead, was walking and talking again.
'This situation was a striking illustration of the questions that remain in the field of re-animation... and what criteria can be used to determine that a re-animation has failed,' said a report on the case, published online by an ethics committee.
The case has stirred debate among medical professionals on when a person should be considered dead. French daily Le Monde dedicated a full page to the subject on Tuesday.
In Singapore, under the Human Organ Transplant Act, a person is considered dead if he fulfils either one of two criteria:
a) There is irreversible cessation of circulation of blood and respiration in the body of the person; or
b) There is total and irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain of the person.
But the hospital where the Frenchman was treated is one of only nine in France that are allowed to perform organ transplants on patients whose hearts had stopped and can't be revived under a pilot programme launched last year.
The programme, which was approved by the French agency in charge of bio-ethics, aims to help reduce the number of people waiting for a transplant.
LACK OF DONORS
Le Monde reported that more than 13,000 people were waiting for transplants in France and that 231 had died last year as a direct result of the lack of a donor.
The newspaper said the pilot programme had already yielded an extra 60 organs.
A committee has since been formed in France to discuss ethical issues arising from the practice of transplants on people in cardiac arrest.
Made up of medical professionals involved in the revival of heart attack patients as well as organ transplants, it held lengthy discussions on the case.
Meeting minutes on such re-animation cases noted that 'participants conceded that these were completely exceptional cases, but ones that were nevertheless seen in the course of a career'.
There is another similar case.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4923465&page=1
"She was taken by ambulance to a local West Virginia hospital when her heart stopped after experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. For more than 17 hours, Thomas had no measurable brain waves, according to her doctors."
Yet she came back to life.....
singapore need more organ for its black market so must harvest from live citizens also