The scene from Life of Brian, where an almost throwaway piece of stupid humour – that a member of The People’s Front of Judea, “Stan”, wants to become a man and have a baby – has turned into a real movement in the 2020’s:

So it should not be a surprise when another piece of their “insane” humour has also turned into reality.

Far more often, people die because their heart has permanently stopped beating, which is known as circulatory death. However, precisely because the blood has stopped circulating, organs from people who die this way are often damaged and unsuited for transplantation.

The need for donor organs is urgent. An estimated 15 people die in this country every day waiting for a transplant. We need to figure out how to obtain more healthy organs from donors while maintaining strict ethical standards.

New technologies can help. But the best solution, we believe, is legal: We need to broaden the definition of death.

That writer will be pleased to learn that he’s behind the curve, because this seems to be happening already:

According to a review by HHS, 351 approved but ultimately incomplete organ donation cases in Kentucky were examined. More than 100 of those cases — roughly 30 percent — included what the agency described as “concerning features,” including 73 patients who exhibited neurological activity inconsistent with eligibility for organ donation. In at least 28 of those cases, the patients may not have been clinically dead when the organ procurement process began.
…
“evidence pointed to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.”

You’ve got to get the organs while they’re fresh!

For those who don’t know or never saw it…