Organ donor law changes shelved
 

Some may say it was common sense to drop this.

Organ donor law changes shelved

6 hours 13 mins ago
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Plans for a new opt-out system of organ donation have been shelved after experts advising the Government cast doubt on whether it would work.
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Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was willing to try out the recommendations of the Organ Donation Taskforce, which call for improvements to be made without a change in the law.
But he added that the issue might have to be "revisited" later if organ donor targets are not met.
An opt out or presumed consent system would make people automatic donors, giving doctors the right to remove their organs after death unless they make their objections clear in advance. A "soft" version of the scheme, favoured by the British Medical Association, gives families the final say on whether a loved one's organs can be taken.
Both Mr Brown his chief medical adviser Sir Liam Donaldson are in favour of presumed consent, believing it would help reduce the chronic shortage of transplant organs and save lives.
An estimated 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant but only 3,000 operations are carried out each year. Every year 1,000 people die waiting for a transplant. Currently there are almost 16 million people on the organ donor register.
However in the second of two reports, the Taskforce concluded that an opt out system was unlikely to help. A chief worry was that such a scheme might undermine public trust in the NHS and actually reduce organ donation rates.
There were fears that it could promote myths such as the belief that care for a person close to death might be compromised by the pressing need for transplant organs. The complexity and cost of a presumed consent system were other factors not in its favour.
Evidence from other countries suggested that opt out systems made little difference to organ donation rates, said the experts.
The report was welcomed by the Patients Association, but the British Medical Association said it was "disappointed".

Drat!! Now I'm going to have to renew my Donor Card as mine has worn out again!! Still I'm on the Welsh Register for parts and bone marrow.

Just hope that if the time comes, the medical services will bother to look for my registration.

Opt out would have been a better idea.

Maybe opt in members could be tattooed with a mark to show their consent? :shrug: Save having to renew the cards every year!!

Good to see that, for once, common sense prevailed.