Life, Death, and the Hope of Christ: Dr. Gary Ott on the Ethics of Organ Donation

This week’s episode is a special cross-over with CMDA’s Voice of Advocacy podcast, hosted by Dr. Brick Lantz, CMDA’s Vice President of Advocacy and Bioethics. Joined by Dr. Gary Ott, a renowned cardiac transplant surgeon at Providence Heart and Vascular Clinic, they explore the ethical boundaries of life, death, and medical innovation – examining how we define death in the ICU era, the differences between brain death and donation after circulatory death (DCD), and how emerging technologies like “heart-in-a-box” systems and normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) are reshaping transplant medicine. With decades of experience and deep faith, Dr. Ott challenges us to uphold the sanctity of life and reflects on the Gospel image at the heart of transplantation – one life given so another may live.