‘Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal would save lives’
October 12, 2009
By Aaron Klein
WorldNetDaily
TEL AVIV – President Obama’s newly confirmed regulatory czar defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.
Cass Sunstein also has strongly pushed for the removal of organs from deceased individuals who did not explicitly consent to becoming organ donors.
In his 2008 book, “Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness,” Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler discussed multiple legal scenarios regarding organ donation. One possibility presented in the book, termed by Sunstein as “routine removal,” posits that “the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone’s permission.”
“Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal is not impossible to defend,” wrote Sunstein. “In theory, it would save lives, and it would do so without intruding on anyone who has any prospect for life.”…
…Sunstein did not add that the removal of organs from a living individual should be banned…
…Sunstein advocates making it mandatory for all citizens to register either as an organ donor or as unwilling to donate their organs.
“Mandated choice could be implemented through a simple addition to the driver’s license registration scheme used in many states. With mandated choice, renewal of your driver’s license would be accompanied by a requirement that you check a box stating your organ donation preferences. Your application would not be accepted unless you had checked one of the boxes. The options might include ‘yes, willing to donate’ and ‘no, unwilling to donate.'”
Government must fund abortion
Sunstein is not shy about his view concerning rights to life or abortion.
WND reported that in his 1993 book, “The Partial Constitution,” Sunstein argued the government should be required to fund abortion in cases such as rape or incest.
“I have argued that the Constitution … forbids government from refusing to pay the expenses of abortion in cases of rape or incest, at least if government pays for childbirth in such cases,” Sunstein wrote…
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