A British transplant surgeon sparked significant controversy after reports surfaced that National Health Service (NHS) plans to support pregnant moms through their full term, so the babies' organs can be donated. The plan was revealed following its announcement about the 'dire shortage' in transplant organs for babies.
Under the new proposal, mothers who learn that their babies will be born with fatal defects will be given an option: to carry the child until it reaches nine months, then, parents can donate the babies' organs. "We are looking at rolling it out as a viable source of organ transplantation nationally," transplant surgeon Niaz Ahmad, of St James's University Hospital in Leeds said to Mail Online.
Ghastly! NHS to harvest babies' organs in proposals to mums pregnant with damaged babies https://t.co/VOfeZBYIPb
— Return to Order (@ReturntoOrder) Marso 7, 2016
"A number of staff in the NHS are not aware that these organs can be used," Ahmad added. "They need to be aware. These can be transplanted, they work, and they work long-term." However, the plan of the NHS has sparked moral debate, while one critic called the babies' organs donation plan a "ghoulish."
"It is a ghoulish suggestion that can only undermine public confidence in transplantation - one of the greatest medical advances of my lifetime," Dr. Trevo Stammers, director for bioethics at St Mary's University, London said about the babies' organs suggestion. "Raiding the bodies of children born only for their organs will further tarnish the profession."
There is an article in the Mail on Sunday 6th March implying that the NHS will pressure women carrying babies diagnosed...
Posted by NHS Organ Donation on Saturday, March 5, 2016
However, NHS officials denied such plan and said through a statement that they would never approach parents to discuss organ donation nor pressure them to continue with their pregnancy just to have the babies' organs donated. As of the moment, there are more than 7,000 people on the organ waiting list. And as the "dire shortage" continues to be a problem, three people who were on the list die each day.
