NCBC 2025 Washington DC Featured Speaker

Dr. Klessig had the honor to speak at the NCBC's Symposium in Washington DC in 2025. Her 30 minute lecture can be found on YouTube here

The slides used for this lecture can be found here

Why the AAN 2023 Guidelines Cannot Be Accepted

Heidi Klessig MD

The Ethics of Organ Donation

According to Penn Medicine, the USA has almost 170 million registered organ donors, but what does organ donation fully entail for both donor and recipient?

The authors behind Respect for Human Life are dedicated to the informed consent of all registered organ donors, those considering donating their organs, their families, and the recipients of transplanted organs.

When Is Someone Dead?

In 1968 doctors at Harvard medical school proposed “redefining” irreversible coma as death. They did this for several reasons, one of which was to increase the supply of organs for donation by simply calling people in an irreversible coma “dead”. People in irreversible coma have beating hearts and breathing lungs so their organs are kept in good shape for harvesting.

"People in an irreversible coma are still present in their physical bodies"

Most people recognize that human beings possess an immaterial life essence, a soul, spirit, or consciousness, in addition to their physical bodies. We maintain that people in an irreversible coma are still present in their physical bodies, and that harvesting their organs is an act of homicide against these vulnerable neurologically injured patients. These procedures are often performed without the benefit of anesthesia, meaning these people may be awake and aware during the harvest surgery, but unable to move due to the use of paralyzing drugs.

In 2023, the American Academy of Neurology issued a new brain death diagnosis guideline which does not comply with the law under the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA). Thus, patients with severe brain injury are being diagnosed as "dead" after only partial loss of brain function instead of the "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem" as stipulated under the UDDA. People have a right to be declared dead in a manner that is both ethically sound and complies with the law.

"Patients with severe brain injury are being diagnosed as 'dead' after only partial loss of brain function"

Our goal is to raise awareness of the deceptive language that is often used in discussing organ harvesting and transplantation, so that people can make intelligent and informed decisions for themselves and their loved ones on this important issue.

Read the Stories of Survivors of a "Brain Death" Diagnosis

"Would I Receive an Organ Transplant?" By Dr. Heidi Klessig

Types of Organ Donation

Which are ethical? Click on the headings below to learn more

Living Donation

Tissue Donation

Forced Harvesting

Donation After Brain Death

Donation After Circulatory Death

Organ Trafficking

What About Xenotransplants?

How Much is a Human Body Worth?

"How do I get off the Donor List?"

More Information

Books

Find more on the "Books" page

by Heidi Klessig MD

The Brain Death Fallacy

Dr. Heidi Klessig

The Back Cover:

In 1968, a committee at Harvard Medical School redefined comatose people on a ventilator as dead. This redefinition of death was introduced in 1981 as a model law referred to as the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA). Now, “brain death” has become codified as a law that defines death in the United States. However, is brain death death?

Dr. Heidi Klessig traces the history of the diagnosis from its beginnings to the passage of the UDDA and more recent attempts to loosen the law further. For the most part, the public is unaware of this ongoing debate, but it impacts them directly after a loved one has a head injury and requires a ventilator. This book is built on the clinical work and academic research of medical doctors, philosophers, and scholars who do not accept the UDDA definition of brain death as death and are experts in this field of study.

Now on Amazon

"This book is a compelling read...The author is completely familiar with texts, academic journals, findings of councils and committees, as well as legal proceedings on the topic of brain death...Her goal in writing this book was to synthesize and summarize this knowledge in a way that would be useful to the general public. She has accomplished this and then some, moving from the bedside to the halls of academia, legislatures, and courtrooms. I recommend The Brain Death Fallacy to you and your patients."

Review by Janis Chester MD

Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons

by Christopher W. Bogosh RN

Now on Amazon

Paul A. Byrne: Defender of Life

Christopher W. Bogosh

The Back Cover:

Those who know Dr. Paul A. Byrne will identify the two hands gently clasping that tiny baby on the book’s cover as his. The picture speaks volumes about Dr. Byrne as a defender of life. After graduating from medical school and becoming a pediatrician, Dr. Byrne became a pioneering neonatologist in the 1960s. His work in neonatology improved the practice of medicine worldwide. However, it would be his conviction to defend life that would become his all-consuming passion. In 1975, Dr. Byrne treated Joseph, a prematurely born baby, who was declared brain dead but was alive and even eventually made a full recovery. Joseph motivated Dr. Byrne to begin the long battle to oppose brain death as a definition of death in the United States. The author, who has been a pro-life laborer with Dr. Byrne throughout the years, has set Dr. Byrne’s life story in the genre of creative non-fiction to engage the reader. Then, with his experience as an editor and writer of numerous books and articles about history, theology, philosophy, and medicine, the author weaves Dr. Byrne’s biography and experiences with influential writings he published throughout his life.