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Good afternoon Pater, what would be the Greek Orthodox stance on leaving my body to medical science? I would like a traditional service, but want to also be able to contribute to the future generations, is this possible? Thank you
Answer to Question 583 When you say you want to leave your body to medical science, do you mean your organs or your whole body? If you mean your whole body then you cannot have a complete traditional service because you will not have a burial, but I will take it that you mean organ donation. Concerning organ donations the church has not taken any official stand on this subject, but has certain reservations, not because she is against it or that there is some religious reason that forbids it. It's purely a matter of what constitutes death. Science claims that when there is no indication of brain activity then the person is clinically dead. The church’s argument is that if the heart is still beating then the person in actually still alive. So until science can prove the person is dead, the Church cannot condone the removal of organs. From a religious point of view we can argue “what gives doctors the right to say someone is beyond help and nothing more can be done for him, so give us your permission to remove the organs? It is not allowing for God’s intervention and there have been many occasions when the person was pronounced clinically dead and miraculously had a complete recovery. But once the organs are removed then the person is 100% dead and there is no way of knowing if he would have lived. The problem for the medical profession is that if the person is already dead the organs cannot be removed because they would be of no use as they have to be removed while the person is still alive. The church is not against organ donation and in fact would give her blessing to such a wonderful and unselfish offering if and when the medical profession can prove that clinically dead means 100% dead. But the church’s reservations does not apply to every occasion of organ donation or blood transfusions. If someone wishes to donate a kidney this will not kill him because he can still live a normal life with just one kidney. Certain other organs can also be removed without killing the person. In such cases the Church has no problem with people donating certain organs and would commend such actions and give her blessing.
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