Article: Should Man Who Killed Wife and Two Children Be Allowed to Donate His Organs?

Would you want the liver of a convicted murderer? The heart of a man who killed his own family?

That's the question corrections officials in Oregon are facing in the case of 37-year-old Christian Longo, who killed his wife and children in 2001 and then fled to Mexico before investigators found him and brought him back to the U.S. for trial.

KPTV in Oregon reported that Longo has promised to stop appealing his death sentence if the Oregon Department of Corrections will let him donate his organs to those in need. Though he denied the killings during the trial – during which he claimed his wife killed their two children and he killed her in retaliation along with their third child -- last month he admitted his guilt in an editorial to The New York Times.

"There is no way to atone for my crimes, but I believe that a profound benefit to society can come from my circumstances," he wrote. "I have asked to end my remaining appeals, and then donate my organs after my execution to those who need them. But my request has been rejected by the prison authorities."

He also told KPTV that he's determined to do some good.

“The option of giving a life -- if that's the best that I can do, that's what I'll try to do," he said. "I'm not trying to make up for anything or redeem anything. It just makes sense."

One of the complications is that Oregon's executions are done via a three-drug lethal injection that destroys organs, so Longo wants officials to use a one-drug solution that will better preserve his organs.

The Department of Corrections said they would not negotiate with a death row inmate about the appeals process and said there are some ethical questions about death row prisoners and organ donation. Longo said he's recognized the error of his ways and apologized to his family and that he doesn't think people would hesitate to take a murderer's organs.

"There may be something in the minds of some people who think there's the whole Hollywood aspect of your soul living on in your organs," he said. "I don't believe that most people truly believe that the crimes live on with your organs."

Should this murderer be allowed to donate his organs?