Organ donation by default
Saw this pop up on New Scientist...
Should doctors assume that people are happy to donate their organs unless they make the effort to opt out?
That's the scenario being considered in the UK, as a means of reducing the widening gap between supply and demand for donated organs. At the moment, a dead person's organs cannot be taken unless they registered themselves in life as a donor.
"Around 8000 people in the UK need an organ transplant [each year], but only 3000 transplants are carried out," said UK health minister Alan Johnson on 20 September, announcing a reappraisal of "presumed consent" by the government.
The British Medical Association (BMA) welcomes the rethink. "We believe that a system of presumed consent, with safeguards, will help to increase the number of donors available," says Vivienne Nathanson, head of ethics at the BMA.
The answer, obviously, is yes. The dead don't need their kidneys, or hearts or anything else, the living should take what they need.
Sadly every time this does make the rounds, it's always the same, some right-wing, usually religious organisations have a whinge about it and the plans are shelved. This time let's shelve the religious nuts and save some people's lives.
I'd also however, like to see the opt-out reversible if it will save someone's life, somebody shouldn't be dying in a bed opposite a corpse who thought that they need their lungs in the afterlife.
30th September 2007 00:43:03, 235 words, 1747 views
2 comments
I'm afraid that you will never win an argument with fundamentalists, even in the face of such compelling arguments for the use of organs of the dead to save lives.I think the best approach that can be taken is a high-profile media campaign to explain why people should carry a donor card. This would encourage all but the hysterical to donate their organs.
Also, you might want to place this link in your post:
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/how_to_become_a_donor.jsp
From which people can themselves up to the organ donor list
I am writing my paper about organ transplant. My major issue will probably be about why people decide not to donate their organs after they die. There are many things that prevent people to make the decision to help other people to survive by donating them organs. One of the main issue would be from the religious perspective. If a person is a religious, they will probably not decide to donate any organs because some religions throughout the world say that the way body is during the life should be also in the afterlife. Some people also think that they will need and use their organs in the afterlife; therefore, they will not be the one to donate the organs to save another one life. There is a discussion that government is dealing with, and it is talked about why should people donate their organs. They are saying that a dead body is no used body, so if the organs from that dead body can be used in order to save the living person that is in need of organ transplant, then medicine should use that organs. In my opinion, government is here ‘playing God’ because they are basically saying what is good and what it should be done. So they are making arguments against religion; therefore, they are ‘playing God’. I know that saving lives is a great, especially since medicine step up and found a way to do it. But now the problem is that even though we have the tool to fix it, we do not have the organs to transplant, which is a big dilemma in society. But of all those things, the last thing that comes down to is about the one and the most important decision that should be counted. It is the wish of the each individual of what he wants to do with his body and organs when that individual dies. We should neglect all the issues and problems, and count the wishes of each person. 
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