Donation of organs 'should be automatic' upon death

[LittleLupin]

Story here

"People should automatically have their organs removed for transplant after they die unless they opted out while alive, Britain's most senior doctor is expected to say tomorrow in his annual report."

Sounds like a good idea to me.

In answer to OP; totally agree tis a good idea.

Opt out all the way.

And yes little or no choice, it is about helping other people or even saving their life, it amazes me that anyone would argue against tbh.

wannabe, think your right the family cant overturn I dont believe, however there is shortage of doners in UK.
I think this is a great idea, that way if someone felt strongly enough about it they could opt out.
Sorry seeing misdee's experience its hard to watch and atleast you cant just say oh well I forgot to fill in my doner card.

Lisa

Nailpolish, My family have known these are my wishes since I was a child. I have also talked about this with my DH who is a very religous man and we have agreed that if the worst happened we would donate our childrens and his organs too. I am horrified that so many people have on this thread have a problem with donating their or their loved ones organs, it has truly shocked and saddened me, but thats what makes world different life practices and opinions.

saltire, i might know your dad! did he have dialysis at the unit between 1994 and 2002? (you dont have to say)

i have to say, all organs are different re live donation - lungs, liver, kidneys - are all so different

after a live donation, the donor takes far far longer ot recover than the recipient

no naily, it was between 1983 and 1986. He died 20 years ago. He had a year living without dialysis before he died.

So how will this work in practice? If a child died and the parents hadn't got around to 'opting out' while the child was alive, would they then have no power to stop the organs from being harvested?

I can see the sense of this idea, obviously - and I think a lot more people would be happy to donate than carry a donor card - but I can see huge problems implementing it. Are we really talking about taking organs in defiance of the wishes of bereaved families who wouldn't consent given the choice?

We have a fundamental right to choose what happens to us.

It isn't just my mum and dads experience with my sister that makes me feel so strongly.

My dad was a policeman and a fellow friend and pc was involved in a terrible car accident. His wife had 3 kids and couldn't face being at the hospital so my dad and another pc were at the hospital and they told her they would phone as soon as there was news.

Well they waited and waited and the best part of the day went by, all the time his wife kept thinking well there must be hope or I would have heard.

Eventually my dad pressing them for news got too much and the hospital manager explained that technically he was dead but they were keeping him alive on life suppor to keep him "fresh" (his exact words)

Well you can imagine his wife and 3 kids and our family were all at home praying he would be ok (literally I can remember this vividly) and imagine the horror when the news came.

My dad and the pc with him both used to carry donor cards and they both took out their cards and ripped them up in front of that hospital manager.

Now I know you are all going to say that is just one instance handled badly but my point is that it did happen and people being human have the capacity to handle things very badly indeed.

We must have the choice.

I think they would have to make the rules different for children, or maybe it was something that had to be done when you register a babies birth.
L

But surely I would rather them keep dh alive till they got the choice of doner than waste what could save another life. Also maybe they kept him alive till family could say goodbye, thats normal practice to if their already hooked up to machine.
L

I have to say that I am slightly sceptical about that article. I understood that in effect it is the next of kin who can currently assent to organ donation, and in fact the organ donation register is often not even referred to in practice. There is a huge amount more that could be done in terms of existing practice to improve donation rates before we need to move to an opt-out regime.

Am surprised to see so many people who would gladly give up all rights over their and the close one's bodies though.

My main difficulty with opting out is that the people who wouldn't appreciate that they have to do this are the more poorly educated, people who don't speak English, people who are newly arrived in the country. And these people may not have the same belief system that says that your body is an empty vessel etc. I don't think that they should lose their rights just because the Government hasn't yet run a good sustainable opt-in campaign.

Loobeeloo, it sounds like an awful way of handling. I think the staff most probably misjudged the situation seeing two policeman on 'duty' rather than two friends who just happened to be policemen

But the way I see it, you might feel strongly about organ donation, but you may just never get roun to getting a doner card/registering. But deep down you know that if the worst were to happen to you then your family would be consulted and as long as you had discussed your wishes with them they would likely consent to your organs being donated and thus your wishes would be carried out.

But if you had to opt out, you would know that if the worst happened, there would be nothing anyone could do to prevent your organs being donated, thus if you felt that strongly that you did not want your organs to be donated, you would be more inclined to make the ffort to opt out imo.

But you are still choosing. You choose to opt out.

I agree there are issues around children, and religion and a whole host of other situations but I do see it as a step forward.

Loobee, one insensitive arsehole of a doctor is no reason to refuse donations. All for the automatic unless opted-out system.

totally agree with OP. opt out if you want to.

Wannabe - you are assuming that people would understand what they needed to do - most people just don't until they are faced with the situation. To then have lost all rights is too late.

Its all very hard and very difficult. I think some of the examples here show a lack of sensitivity.

The thing is, organs save do lives. For every relative who had a bad experience in being pressurised to give organs, there is another relative who is watching their loved one dying of a disease that could be cured by those organs.

I am NOT saying it is ok to put relatives through the hard sell.

But making it the norm to donate, and making people make the effort to opt out if they feel strongly, would, I think, make it easier on people at a really hard time, because, if the dead person had not actually opted out of organ donation, odds are surely that they weren't THAT bothered.

I don't think sending donor card out is much of a goer really. People need to be on the register, but more importantly, they MUST tell as many people in their family as possible of their wishes. Response rates for this sort of thing are astoundingly poor-circa 2% IIRC.

aaaargh I meant "I think some of the examples here show a lack of sensitivity. ON THE PART OF DOCTORS"

not posters

MUST PREVIEW

sorry

please please please

transplant is NOT a cure!

I completely agree with the opt out system as long as it is explained properly to people and they have a proper CHOICE in the matter

and sorry filly I am not having a go at you its just the common misconceptions that transplant is cure all.

I wonder how many people said they wanted to donate whent hey were living but when family is faced with idea at death, family members dont resepct that wish as they are too upset to think about it.
it must be very hard for the doctors to have to ask when there is a grieving family, this would stop both these problems.
I really think an opt out would be so much better than opt in.

L

saltire im sorry

no no not always

but sometimes it does make a vast difference.

Its not without complications though and I utterly agree with trying to find better alternatives

(the thing with the liver is a good one but the liver is an unusal organ in that it has the ability to regenenerate-the heart. lungs, kidneys etc don't do that. but there are other plans to grow organs in animals, i think)

Very very interesting to read Naily's views as she works in a transplant unit. Like everything else in life, there's so much more to all of this than meets the eye.

Agree Fio. Transplant exchanges one set of problems for another (slightly more acceptable) set of problems.