Awful. I have advocated—to some criticism—that the organ transplant community should make it very clear that organs that become available due to suicide will not be procured. See my reasoning here.
Now, in India, a 12-year-old girl killed herself for that very purpose. From the Times of India story:
For days, Mumpy would listen quietly as the elders discussed how only an eye surgery could save her father’s vision and a kidney transplant her brother’s life. But both surgeries were beyond the family’s meagre means. So, Mumpy hit upon a plan, which to her 12-year-old mind seemed the answer to all troubles. She would kill herself, which would save the dowry, too, and her organs would give her loved ones back their lives. Mumpy did stick to her plan. But the suicide note in which she had scribbled down her wishes was found the day after she was cremated.
What a tragedy for the family.
The point of refusing organ donation from suicides would be to prevent society from giving suicidal people a perceived stake in doing themselves in. (The same reason should preclude organ harvesting after euthanasia, as occurs now in Belgium.) While this story wasn’t in the West, I think it demonstrates tragically and vividly that my concerns are valid and potentially prophetic. Despairing people need incentives to stay alive, not to be made dead.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
