Reports have recently been circulating regarding the extraordinary story of a 76 year old Quebec woman who awoke after allegedly being confirmed as 'brain dead'. One of the reports reads, in part, as follows:
Last week, Madeleine Gauron, a Quebec woman identified as viable for organ donation after doctors diagnosed her as “brain dead,” surprised her family and physicians when she recovered from a coma, opened her eyes, and began eating. The 76-year-old woman was hospitalized at the Hospital Sainte Croix de Drummondville for an inflammation of the gums, which required a brief operation. During her recovery, hospital staff gave the elderly woman solid food, which she had been unable to consume in her family home for some time, and left her unattended. Choking on the food, she fell into a coma, after unsuccessful resuscitation.
Medical staff contacted her family, explaining to them that their mother was “brain dead,” with no hope of recovery. Citing Gauron’s eyes as particularly viable, the doctors asked if the family would agree to organ donation.
While supporting the possibility of donation, her shocked family first demanded further medical tests to prove Gauron was really dead.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/brain-dead-quebec-woman-wakes-up-after-family-refuses-organ-donation/Is this a case of the truly miraculous, gross medical incompetence, or is somebody pushing an agenda? Let's look at the alleged facts of this case with a more critical eye.
1) There have been no objective reports regarding this case, in the legitimate press, that I have been able to find to date. The reports that have appeared are coming primarily from Pro Life, Pro Christian, Anti Euthanasia type websites. In other words, websites with a very specific agenda.
2) The very nature of the report plays into people's fears of Doctors not doing enough to save them, or even going so far as to take their lives, in order to harvest organs. These scare tactics seem designed to make a specific point, given the nature of the sites where this report has appeared.
3) Canadian guidelines for the diagnosis of Brain Death are strict, as are the guidelines in the majority of countries. Following these guidelines, as published by The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, a diagnosis of brain death would not be given after a perfunctory exam, which is what this article appears to be implying.
4) Under Canadian guidelines it is also recommended, as a general rule, that the Organ Transplant team, and the Doctors whose role it is to diagnose brain death, not be one and the same. The possibility of medical staff approaching a patient's family to discuss organ donation under these circumstances is unlikely. Furthermore the viability of a potential donor's organs would not be discussed with the family, especially upon an initial approach, given the organ viability is not generally known until actual procurement takes place. So the idea that Doctors approached Madeleine Gauron's next of kin, and cited her eyes as 'particularly viable' quiet frankly sounds like a complete fabrication.
(Quoted from The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences: Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Brain Death)
As a general rule, those individuals who assess patients for brain death should not be part of the transplant team.
http://www.cjns.org/26febtoc/guide.html
(From the Canadian Association of Transplantation website)
Doctors who care for seriously injured patients are not involved with the transplant process. Their only concern is to save lives. Organ donation is only considered after all attempts to save your life have failed, death has been declared, and your family has been consulted regarding your wishes.
5) Guidelines for the procurement and transplantation of donor organs in Canada do not extend to patients, who have not even been declared brain dead, being whisked away without familial consent in order to have their organs harvested against all ethical considerations, and moral responsibilities. This, quite simply, is not how organ donation is conducted.
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So what actually did happen in Madeleine Gauron's case? With no reliable, non biased reports to go on, we can only speculate.
A Canadian Parliamentary report into Organ Donation and Transplantation, published in 2009, mentions 'Required Referral' and 'Required Request'. According to this document, British Colombia and Ontario have legislated for required referral, whilst New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have instituted required request (Manitoba has legislated for both).
Required referral refers to the requirement that health care professionals report all brain deaths (and possibly cardiac deaths) or imminent deaths, to their local organ procurement organization.
Required request obliges health care professionals to approach the families of identified, potential organ donors and inquire about donation.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/researchpublications/prb0824-e.htm
Under required referral, or mandatory reporting legislation, the transplant team would have been informed as soon as intensive care staff suspected the woman's prognosis was poor. This is not the same as the woman being confirmed as brain dead.
Once the woman's next of kin had been informed of their loved one's prognosis, the Organ Transplant and Procurement team would most likely then have made an initial approach to the family in order to ascertain, and discuss their feelings regarding organ donation, including the wishes of the patient if they were known. Again, at this stage the transplant team approaching a potential donor's family does not automatically imply a definitive diagnosis of brain death has been made. Doctors working in critical care all over the world spend time preparing families for a variety of outcomes, including the fact that tests may very well show their loved one has passed on. Not only does this minimise emotional shock, it also helps the patient's next of kin to prepare. The same principal is at work when loved ones and families are initially approached in regards to Organ Donation.
At this point it's possible Madeleine Gauron's family misunderstood the transplant team's initial approach as confirmation that a diagnosis of brain death had been made. Even if that were the case, and there is absolutely no reliable evidence to say it was, the family is still within their rights to ask for further testing in order to confirm the diagnosis. When it comes to organ donation time is of the essence in terms of cellular and tissue breakdown leading to organs becoming non viable; however, this does not mean that a person is rushed into surgery the very moment a physician utters the words 'brain dead'.
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So a woman is admitted to hospital for a routine operation. Whilst under hospital care she chokes on solid food, and falls into a coma. Given the woman's age, and other observations possibly made by medical staff involved in her care, her prognosis is considered 'poor'. Under required referral legislation critical care staff are obligated to contact the transplant team and inform them of a potential donor candidate (remember this is not the same as declaring someone brain dead, patients who medical staff suspect may be approaching death may also be identified as potential candidates for organ donation). After Doctors involved with the Intensive Care unit have approached the woman's family to discuss her prognosis, members of the Organ Transplant and Procurement team then make an initial approach in order to gently ascertain the family's feelings towards organ donation should the worst come to pass, and determine whether or not they are aware of their loved one's wishes. The family misunderstands this as a confirmed diagnosis of brain death, when none has been given, and demands further tests as is their right. Tests confirm that the woman is indeed not brain dead, and defying the Doctors prognosis she then turns around and makes an almost miraculous complete recovery.
And there you have it, the most likely speculative scenario in the case of Madeleine Gauron (in my opinion at least). No Lazarus style miracle, no 'coma misdiagnosed as brain death', no ghouls waiting in the wings ready to swoop on an unsuspecting victim and seize their organs, and certainly no agenda.
