PEDIATRICS Vol. 82 No. 2 August 1988, pp. 274-276
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Harvesting Organs for Transplantation From Dying Anencephalic Infants

AUBREY MILUNSKY MBBCH, DSc, FRCP, DCH1

1 Center for Human Genetics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston

Pediatricians, vested with the care of newborns with anencephaly or irreparable congenital cardiac defects, would naturally think about heart transplantation to save the otherwise healthy children. Indeed, parents of anencephalic newborns have publically declared their wishes to help others through organ donations from their own terminally ill infants. Their actions would give solace and some meaning to an otherwise unmitigated catastrophe. Unfortunately, acceptance of an act by such grieving parents, at once so sensitive, gracious, and wellintentioned, unwittingly invites a cascade of medical, ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas. Attempts to save one life may threaten the dignity (or even life) of another, albeit terminal and vegetative.