Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Organ donation should be opt out.

274 replies

m1nniedriver · 17/11/2015 15:12

Just that really. If people have strong feelings on the matter then they are free to opt out, I really fail to see the issue with it.

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 17/11/2015 15:12

I agree but I can also see about a million problems with this.

Thurlow · 17/11/2015 15:18

I agree. But I do think that too many people will have an issue with this, and so wouldn't allow it to be instituted.

Enjolrass · 17/11/2015 15:20

I don't like it. I would rather people have to fill in the donation form.

It essentially saying your organs belong to NHS unless you fill in some paperwork.

Organs are something that should be consciously volunteered.

It may also cause problems for people who have just moved her but don't want to donate for cultural or religious reasons. Filling out the opt out is not going to be one of the first things you think about.

Enjolrass · 17/11/2015 15:20

Moved here

whois · 17/11/2015 15:22

YANBU

100% agree

DrGoogleWillSeeYouNow · 17/11/2015 15:22

Opt in, opt out, whatever, it makes no difference.

Realistically, it's your next of kin that gets the final say, whether you're on a register or not. You've got to tell them what your wishes are and hope they abide by them.

Nataleejah · 17/11/2015 15:24

Then you should opt out from receiving

Pootles2010 · 17/11/2015 15:24

Well i think one of the biggest problems is consent doesn't come from the deceased, it comes from the relatives, so I don't see how that could be opt-out?

Also as above, it essentially says your organs are not your own.

Also, I can't see any hospitals taking organs against relatives wishes, so it wouldn't change anything really, would it?

wasonthelist · 17/11/2015 15:36

I have carried a donor card for 30+ years and I am on the register, everyone knows my wishes.

If we change to opt out, I will opt out. My organs aren't the property lf the State, even when I'm dead.

Original poster
m1nniedriver · 17/11/2015 15:38

The system should never allow relatives, in a distressed state, to override the wishes of the desceased but it does. That's a whole lot of wrong!

I don't get the argument 'your organs belong to the NHS' either. Of course they don't Confused if you don't want to donate then fill in a form stating so. I'm fairly confident anyone moving here and filling in forms, if they feel that strongly about it, wouldn't have an issue filling in 1 more form. I don't think that is a valid argument against it IMO.

I would drfinately donate anything I had that was of use but I accept peoples' right not to and their right to opt out. Making a presumption those that opt out wouldn't accept an organ for themselves or their loved ones although I think put in that situation, most people would!

I actually do think this will happen in the future.

OP posts:
angelos02 · 17/11/2015 15:39

YANBU.
I definately think if you opt-out of giving your organs when you die, then you opt-out of the organ donation completely. I would rather my organs went to a doner-card-carrying alcoholic or drug user than someone that had deliberately opted out of the system but was quite happy to take organs from someone else. It is fairly simple...you either believe in organ donation or you do not.

Cymraesfach · 17/11/2015 15:40

This is happening in Wales from the end of this year onwards. (Personally I think if someone opts out, they should opt out of being able to accept an organ too).

Original poster
m1nniedriver · 17/11/2015 15:40

was the card means nothing if your next of kin decide they can't do it. In that case your organs are the property of your NOK. The state doesn't want them Confused

OP posts:
minionwithdms · 17/11/2015 15:41

I think the rest of the UK should follow Wales's example in this - definitely worth considering. On the other hand, I do wish that once you have made a decision, that's it - the wishes followed should be yours and not your relative. They should only have any say if you haven't opted either in or out.

Freezingwinter · 17/11/2015 15:46

Forms get lost. Forms can be forged. There are so many ways this could go disastrously wrong and after all the scandals about body parts being kept for research in the past, it'll never happen.

wasonthelist · 17/11/2015 15:46

Minnie My point is under the current system someone stands a chance of getting my organs. Those are my wishes and my NOK all know.

If we change to presumed consent I will do all I can to ensure that my organs are not used, becuase I thjnk it's fundamentally wrong to assume you can take them jnless tlld otherwise - which seems to be what the op and others are advocating.

wannaBe · 17/11/2015 15:52

given the organ donation register carries no weight what so ever as the decision is down to the relatives, how do people suppose that an opt-out system would be any more successful. The next of kin would still have the overriding say, and given that around 47% of NOK refuse consent for organ donation even if someone is on the register, surely the solution lies closer to trying to make the process better for the next of kin to go through rather than resorting to a process where we are forced to withdrawing permission for our bodies to become the property of the state when we die.

I am on the register, but if they introduce an opt out system I will opt out.

As for people not being entitled to receive an organ unless they are prepared to donate one, do people really feel that we should be dictated to by the state what hoops we have to jump through to get treatments? given many people don't actually consider organ donation until they need an organ themselves, and most people are far more likely to need an organ than to be in a position to donate one, this seems a slippery slope to me. Where should we draw the line? no fertility treatments if you've had a termination? no cancer treatments if you smoke/drink/eat more than 2000 calories a day/have a BMI above a healthy range - where does it end?

wasonthelist · 17/11/2015 15:54

Agree with wanna - what next, no NHS treatment if you crash your car at more than the speed limit?

wannaBe · 17/11/2015 15:58

also if you were ineligible to be an organ donor you would have to prove your ineligibility in order to receive an organ should you ever need one. It's a ludicrous suggestion.

Original poster
m1nniedriver · 17/11/2015 15:59

Thankfully I think you would be in the minority, refusing to donate your organs to prove a point wouldn't be a popular stance, in my experience! Hmm

freezing forms going missing, getting forged etc could just as easily hapoen with the current system. Relatives overriding wishes happens often understandably IMO. The scandal of organs being kept for research didnt hapoen under an opt out system though, it happened under this one. Not sure what that has to do with it. This wouldn't be about organs for research, purely transplant. It will happen, it's just a matter of time.

OP posts:
Enjolrass · 17/11/2015 16:02

The system should never allow relatives, in a distressed state, to override the wishes of the desceased but it does*

I agree with this.

Titsalinabumsquash · 17/11/2015 16:03

I agree with to OP but my stance is completely clouded by the fact that one day my son is very likely to need a double lung transplant or die. We need more organs!

Original poster
m1nniedriver · 17/11/2015 16:05

On principle I agree, if you don't wish to donate your organs why should you or your loved ones recieve one Angry. In reality that's ridiculous (thankfully) because who in their right mind would allow a person to die if there was a suitable organ ready for transplant ..... Hmm someone out if their mind with grief perhaps!

OP posts:
wasonthelist · 17/11/2015 16:06

Thankfully I think you would be in the minority, refusing to donate your organs to prove a point wouldn't be a popular stance, in my experience! hmm

I don't care if you or anyone else likes it or if it makes me popular or not, the State/NHS can keep it's theiving hands off my organs unless me and my NOK say it's ok. Under your system, the only way I get to choose myself is to opt out, because you want to remove my actual choice. As for "just to prove a point" it is a very important point and therefore worth it in my book.

Enjolrass · 17/11/2015 16:06

It's ok saying 'opting out is only one form'

However filling in organ donation at the moment is only one form. People still don't get round to doing it.

Next of kin should be allowed to over ride wishes.

The whole ' if you opt out you shouldn't get an organ' is ridiculous. That's not how the NHS works.

I don't drink, that doesn't mean people who get pissed every weekend should be ignored if they need medical treatment.

Should over weight people be denied treatment for diabetes if their eating caused it?