Organ Donation, Presumed Consent.

[sapelesam]

As the Government discuss changing the law regarding organ donation, are you for or against presumed consent. I have always carried a donor card and am registered, after my death they can have what ever they want. I can see a great benefit to ethnic minorities who are woefully under represented on the register. Can the health service afford all the extra transplants that will now be possible. A few points there, very interested in AB'ers views.

[gness]

Kval.......if your dead loved one carries the opt out card you'll have no problem at all......
If not......then he/she has been lax to leave you in that situation.....it's quite simple.....x

[woofgang]

again gness, why should it be the responsibility of an opter out to carry a card?

[woofgang]

gness, they may not be leaving the NOK in an uncertain position...NOK may genuinely know that the person would not want to donate.

[kvalidir]

Yes Gness we are talking about lax people, now please answer whether you genuinely think a transplant team would just back off because I said so when the law is on their side, because never in the reign of King Hal would they, let's be honest?

[woofgang]

and still no one is saying whether or not donated blood "counts"

[kvalidir]

I brought that up on the other thread too, as Dave had omitted it Woof. I'm fairly useless being a type one diabetic, can't give blood, can't be a live donor etc, but I would if I could so is it the thought that counts if i need a transfusion?

[sunny-dave]

Counts for what, woofgang?

Yes it's altruistic and a fine thing to do (been there, got the badges) - but I don't expect it to push me up the list for a transplant - or indeed to make me 'look better' if I should subsequently opt-out of the donation system for some reason.

[woofgang]

or what if a fit reli offers to opt in with "no returns" so that their loved one can go on the recipient waiting list?

[woofgang]

no but would blood donation get an opter out onto the transplant list in your world view? after all blood is needed for transplant ops

[woofgang]

and if so how much blood?

[RobNorth]

On the point of opt out cards I think it's worth bearing in mind that many, if not the majority of potential donors, by virtue of lifestyle, are young and immortal as we all were, and will just not bother.

[kvalidir]

That was the point I was trying to make to Gness earlier Rob, and there will be awful distress if they harvest their organs against their families wishes.

[woofgang]

and what if the potential donor is a child? at what age does presumed consent kick in?

[anneasquith]

Communicate with you family , we all need to know what their views are .

[sunny-dave]

I think (as anne asquith said), you're trying to make the "requirement to make a decision" more onerous than is necessary.

It's a simple decision to opt-out (and it will actually come without any of the consequences I would like to see).

If someone choses to duck that decision (or is simply too incompetent/immortal) then the family should be blaming them - not the doctors or the government.

I assume that the opt-out will apply from age 18 and the family will have their current power to agree/refuse until then.

[gness]

The answers to your question about children, Woof.....and those that Kval is bringing up about loved ones can be found by reading....
Organ Donation in Wales.

[kvalidir]

I agree Dave it is the lax person's fault, no doubt about that, but it still won't be an uncommon occurrence and it will still lead to the harvesting of people's organs when their families are in violent opposition and all of the added grief and distress that will go with that. Also it requires people to notify the State of their wishes instead of it being a private family decision as it is at present, and inches us closer to further state control in our lives and deaths.

[anneasquith]

The irony of this thread is that the transplant teams wish to have organs from young fit people for better results. The majority of Abers may well be passed their sell by date to be any use. !!!! :-)

[gness]

Kval....read what I've suggested....you will see that your worries about harvesting against the wishes of family is covered.

Not necessarily, Anne...I think the oldest donor of corneas was 107 and only a few abers are past that..... ;-)

That lady saved the sight of a young person...good, eh?

[kvalidir]

For anyone sufficiently interested this is what Organ Donation Wales has to say on the subject- essentially if the family cannot show that the dead person expressed a wish themselves not to donate then the pandemonium we suggested earlier will go ahead. It is not enough for the family to not wish for donation to go ahead. Wonderful. Deemed consent is of course nothing of the sort it's simply a lack of information one way or the other.

//Families have a very important part to play in any discussion about organ donation.

The UK has amongst the highest number of family refusals to donation in Europe. This is because when a family does not know their loved one's decision they tend to say no to organ donation.

Under deemed consent family involvement continues to be essential. Families of donors are asked about some elements of the deceased's medical/lifestyle history, residency information and possibly confirm that the deceased had mental capacity to understand organ donation.

The deceased family and close friends can also inform medical staff if the deceased objected to organ donation but had not registered an opt out decision. If this happens then donation will not go ahead. However this objection would have to be based on the views of the deceased.//