You arrived at this page by selecting:Presumed Consent for Organ Donation (YEP 14/02/08)
You may have heard about the presumed consent system for organ donation which has been talked about recently. It doesn't sound a bad thing in principle but when you think it through and how in practice it might work I do have some reservations. The system will work where upon your death your organs could be removed unless you have opted out of donation and registered your objection.
It is upsetting to see those people on the news who are pleading for an organ to save their lives and there will be lots of others too whose plight will go unpublicised. There is a need for more donors and I totally understand that. Presumed consent proposals are for it to be accompanied by extensive and high profile publicity. My question is why is there not an extensive and high profile publicity effort being put into increasing the number of donors before simply saying everyones bits are up for grabs unless you state otherwise.
The BMA say that the relatives views will not be ignored and the presumed consent system will apply only to those over the age of 16. Those under the age of 16 will need to opt in to organ donation. The BMA say that if it is clear from the information provided by the relatives that the individual had expressed an objection to donation but had not officially registered it or if removal of organs would cause major distress to the individuals relatives then organs would not be removed.
This sounds to be a reasonable safeguard because we don't tend to or want to think through this type of scenario thoroughly. In reality however Doctors are trying to save lives that's what they do for a living. How motivated will they actually be to seek out objections from relatives of the deceased for organ removal? Will Doctors ask the question or will it be left for the relatives to make an objection at the time of death. I am not so sure the organ donation issue will be at the forefront of a relatives mind at such a terrible time if not prompted. The need however for organs for the unfortunate other patient will be foremost in the medics' minds.
Time is definitely of the essence in these cases and there is not much room for dilly dallying when someone is in desperate need of an organ. Could there be cases where organs will be removed first and questions asked later when it will undoubtedly be too late. I sincerely hope not.
The thing is I have never been asked if I would like to be an organ donor. There were those little cards in circulation years ago but what happened to them? Are they still available? Where can I get one? How do I go about registering my consent. I do not feel there has been much if any publicity in recent years to boost the numbers of organ donors. We and our relatives however might be forced to become donors whether we like it or not because it is easier to compel than to argue the case.
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