To think the uk should have a change in law, to allow babies under two months to be organ donors, to save babies like these

[EvilGallstones]

here

Im in favour of a law change

[londonrach]

Can doctors transfer an organ that small. (Just honest question)

[steff13]

They do it here.

[EvilGallstones]

Yes they can

[Sapphire387]

The article says that the reason our law is in place is because it can be difficult to determine if a very young baby is 'brain-stem dead' (how heartbreaking to even write those words in the context of an infant) in order to donate an organ.

I am not a medical expert, and I don't know why some countries have different laws. But I wouldn't just say the law should be changed... the issue is too complicated. I agree the possibility should be investigated though, if that hasn't been done for years or something.

[londonrach]

Poor parents. Not easy. Not sure I could do it.

[Annunziata]

The little children should be left in peace. I think it is too much to ask of their parents.

[ArmyDad]

As above, I agree in principal but it would be too much to ask of a parent.

[OpiesOldLady]

Speaking as a parent who knew that giving birth to her child was going to lead to the death of him, organ donation is something I spoke to the professor involved in our case, at length, about.


I personally felt that if we could have donated his organs then that would have been something good to come out of his death. I, we, wanted to do that.

As it happened, he was born prematurely, in a hospital far away from home, so it couldn't happen.

[EvilGallstones]

They parents should have the. Option to choose if they want to donate or not

And of course not be pressured

But it could offer them some comfort

[trufflesnout]

Too hard on the parents? What about the parents whose babies are essentially being condemned to an avoidable death? Sorry to put it so harshly but out of the dire situation of two potential little lives being lost - if one could be saved I would offer my child's organs in a heartbeat, just as I'd accept the offer of donated organs for my sick child.

[PeachandRaspberry]

This would have killed me.

It is hard enough to bury your baby and tidy away all the things you have so lovingly bought without feeling like you are responsible for another baby's life.

[ICanHearYou]

I would be so sad if my baby couldn't help save another

[Ratbagcatbag]

I think it's a very personal decision, and yes truffles to hard on the parents in a perfectly valid reason for say no, surely.

[Ratbagcatbag]

Too. Wish I could edit spellings sometimes.

[trufflesnout]

Yy Rat a valid reason to decline but not a valid reason for the law to exist.

[AllHailTheBigPurpleOne]

I would do it, if only to save some other poor family from going through the hell of losing a little one.
I don't speak from experience though so this feeling is in principle.
I am in favour of organ donation. My card says 'HELP YOURSELVES GUYS'

[RachelWatts]

It's a horrible decision for parents to make - to decide to donate the organs of their deceased child.

But if my child was sick, and needed a new organ, then, selfishly, I would want there to be a suitable organ available.

It would be hypocritical of me to decide not to donate, if the worst happened.

[ReallyTired]

I think it must be pretty hard to tell if a newborn is brain dead as even a healthy newborn is so helpless. Prehaps the fear is that doctors will see the neo natal intensive care unit as source of organs. Will it affect a doctors' (plural) decision whether to switch off the life support machine of a baby who has experienced a major cerabral bleed.

I find it a little hyprocritical that we as a nation happily accept french and spanish baby organs, but not use our own dead babies' organs. We need people experienced in medical ethics to look at the law.

[yellowdinosauragain]

To those of you saying is too much to ask of the parents, please read this article:

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10899012/Organ-donation-The-family-who-turned-their-grief-into-the-gift-of-life.html

I know the parents in question and have spoken to them about it and donating their daughter's organs is one of the few things helping to make sense of her tragic death.

[sashh]

The article reads as though a new heart would be a cure and all would be well. It isn't and it wouldn't.

I know things have moved on since I worked in Cardiology, but one principle remains, in order to transplant an organ the recipient need to take immunosupresives so their body does not reject the organ.

Which means you have a child who cannot have vaccinations, who is more at risk of catching a childhood illness and if they do of it will, in all probability, become life threatening.

And that is if the transplant works, it might not.

Would a change in the law have 'saved' this baby? We don't know. There are, thankfully, few healthy children who die at this age, and for a donation you need that, the death of a relatively healthy infant or a case like OpiesOldLady, a child who is going to die not long after birth.

As regards the law, I didn't know there was a minimum age, I thought it was up to the parents and I can't find anywhere saying otherwise so the change in law to that of Spain would be to make donating an 'opt out' rather than an 'opt in' system as we have at present.

So when you are saying it might be hard for the parents have a think about what that really means.

What is known as 'hard opt in' means that you have no rights over whether your baby's organs are used for transplant. That means that if your baby is dieing you might not be able to hold them for long, someone is going to take your baby away and cut them up as soon as they have passed away. You would have no choice as to which organs were taken, and many many people who do allow their child's organs to be harvested choose not to donate certain organs, often the child's eyes.

I'm on the organ donor register, but I have specified which organs can be taken.

Medically we are also moving towards more limb transplants.

Do we want a situation where a dead baby is taken from grieving parents, who will, in due course, receive a body for burial that has no eyes, no internal organs and possibly no hands?

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

The parents should have the choice. No one is forced to be an organ donor so it's ridiculous to starting saying "how would the parents' feel" because everyone will feel differently.

Some wouldn't consider it and some would. For those that would consider it the appropriate research needs to be carried out into donating organs from such young babies to allow the law to be changed.

Organ donation may not always save a life but it would give these babies an extra chance they would otherwise not have.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Grammar is atrocious at this time of the morning, sorry for the typos.