Organ Donation. Opt in or Opt out?

[Winston1959]

How can the subject be best presented to the public and how can government be encouraged to take a lead on it?

Is there a current campaign?

What has happened about this in the past?

[Bolly]

This is from the organ donation site, but it's old information. Not sure what the current 'state of play' is:

Quote: "The current "opt-in" system of organ donation – where individuals are asked to register their willingness to be a donor after their death – has been the subject of debate for many years.

Due to the serious shortage of organ donors and consequent waiting lists for transplant operations in the UK, it is often suggested that the altruistic approach to organ donation is in need of review.

The British Medical Association (BMA), many transplant surgeons, and some patients' groups and politicians are keen to see Britain adopt a system of "presumed consent", where it is assumed that an individual wishes to be a donor unless he or she has "opted out" by registering their objection to donation after their death.

In recognition of the complex issues and widely differing viewpoints surrounding systems of consent to organ donation, the UK Secretary of State for Health [2007], Alan Johnson, asked the Organ Donation Taskforce to assess the possible impact of a change to presumed consent and the acceptability of such a change for the UK.

The Taskforce examined the complex moral and medical issues around presumed consent, including giving the family of the deceased a final say on the donation of any organs.

Its work centred on examining the views of the public, health organisations and various other stakeholders on the clinical, ethical, legal and societal issues. The Taskforce established a series of expert working groups to help gather evidence and advise on all these areas.

The resulting report "The potential impact of an opt out system for organ donation in the UK" was delivered in November 2008. It recommended that the current system of opt-in be retained and the recommendations of the Taskforce’s earlier report Organs for Transplants, produced in January 2008, be implemented. The first report examined the barriers to donation and made recommendations for improvements within existing legal frameworks.

In July 2007, the Chief Medical Officer in his 2006 Annual Report on the State of Public Health, supported the idea of an opt-out system with proper safeguards and good public information. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also called for a public debate on the issue of presumed consent"

[Winston1959 in reply to Bolly]

Many thanks for this info Bolly it is most useful I will be contacting my local MP to ask him for his support and maybe encourage his to present a question on the subject in parliament.

Kind regards

Winston

[Bolly]

Hi Winston. Before penning any letter or email or whatever to your MP I would recommend getting yourself bang up to date on the current situation.

All the information above is old (2007/2008). In Feb 2012 there were rumours of a change to the organ allocation system: here is what the Hep C Trust wrote at the time.

"From the Hep C Trust Newsletter: --

The Hepatitis C Trust, together with other liver patient support charities and liver disease charities have been meeting up with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) to discuss proposals for a new liver distribution and allocation scheme.

There are several reasons for a new scheme being considered, please read herehepctrust.org.uk/News_Resou... how the current system works and the changes proposed by the NHSBT. All the information cited has been taken from a report provided by the NHSBT Liver Transplantation: Organ Allocation in the United Kingdom: A report for Liver Disease Charities and Patient Support Groups, January 2012".

Maybe do a bit of research on the internet or contact the NHSBT first to check on current state of play. Should the govt take the lead? I would suggest that organisations such as the NHSBT and the BLT etc are the ones to take the lead, supported by us the public. Research what they do in other countries, come to a conclusion yourself if what other countries do works better/worse.

[Winston1959]

Thats great advice Bolly I think you are quite right about getting up to speed with the current state of play first.

Many thanks,

PS. late this afternoon I took a call from the hospital to say I go on the transplant list on 10th Jan 13.