The bodies of two deceased Alabama prisoners were missing vital organs when they were returned to their families, according to an AP report. The families of dead prisoners Brandon Dotson and Charles Singleton have filed federal lawsuits against the Alabama Department of Corrections. The body of Dotson was returned to his family, decomposing and without his heart. Singleton’s body was given back to his family without any internal organs.
“Defendants’ outrageous and inexcusable mishandling of the deceased’s body amounts to a reprehensible violation of human dignity and common decency,” the lawsuit states, adding that “their appalling misconduct is nothing short of grave robbery and mutilation.”
Organ stealing is an offense against humanity, an assault against the most vulnerable among us. In this case, the victims were prisoners, as is often the case worldwide: ask a Falun Gong practitioner in China (if you can still find one) or a Uighur Muslim, many of whom have become victims of forced organ harvesting abroad. In developing nations, the poor are targeted by illicit organ dealers who extort them into selling their kidneys for a paltry sum.
In developed nations, “death” has been redefined, duping an uninformed and altruistic public into becoming organ donors while they are still alive. “Brain Death” is a legal fiction, one that removes civil rights from vulnerable brain-injured people to harvest their viable and valuable organs. “Donation after Circulatory Death” donors whose hearts have stopped beating for 2-5 minutes are still easily within the time frame in which they could be resuscitated and thus are still alive.
Respect for Human Life exists to expose these crimes against the human family. Our first book, Harvesting Organs and Cherishing Life was written for Christians because we were concerned with the church’s hypocrisy in denouncing abortion while tolerating the death-by-dissection of vulnerable people that is organ harvesting. A second book, When Christian Say, “I Believe Life Starts at Conception,” addressed the issue more directly.
Our website and latest book, The Brain Death Fallacy, have everyone in mind. We have spoken on both Democrat and Republican news sites. We have done events for medical and secular audiences, colleges, universities, and churches of all denominations. We have been contacted by people from Japan, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, and the United States (US).
This is not a political, denominational, or national issue. Unethical organ harvesting is a human issue, an assault against our shared humanity. In the US, it denies our “inalienable right to life”; and under Federal and State laws, our right to informed medical decision-making. Everyone is welcome and needed in this fight to protect the weak and vulnerable from being victimized by the deceptive language and practices surrounding organ harvesting.
One of our biggest concerns right now is that the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has released new guidelines for the determination of “brain death” that expand the definition to include people who still have parts of their brain functioning. These stealthily advanced guidelines recapitulate the changes to brain death parameters recently refused by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), which tabled their efforts to revise the Uniform Determination of Death Act in September 2023.
Unfortunately, what happens in the US will influence brain death policy worldwide. Families, doctors, nurses, and lawyers need to know that these new guidelines do not comply with the law in every US state except Nevada. (Sadly, the Nevada legislature tied that state’s brain death laws to whatever the AAN says in perpetuity!)
We often receive emails through our website like this one: “Thank you for making this website, I am a healthcare professional who is fully convinced that we are killing patients and using poorly defined definitions of ‘brain dead’ to do so. If you ever need a volunteer let me know.” We are so grateful that people are concerned and willing to help! Here’s a list of things that you can do that will make a difference:
1. Become a website subscriber to stay on top of the latest developments in organ harvesting news.
2. Share our website and books with your friends, family, clergy, lawyers, and legislators.
3. Let us know if you need a speaker for your upcoming event.
4. Find us news sites and podcasts that want to feature our interviews on their programs. A big ‘thank you’ to Susan, one of our website subscribers, who recently got us this interview on Right Now with Ann Vandersteel!
5. If you have lobbying or legislative influence, please help us pursue changing brain death laws. During the 2023 Uniform Law Commission annual meeting, it was proposed that every state should have an opt-out against brain death/death by neurological criteria like New Jersey. If you are in a position to work on this front, we’re ready to help you.
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