Organ Donors 'Move To Assume Consent Approved'

By John Deane

Chief Political Correspondent, PA News

Ministers were today urged to back a plan under which adults would be presumed to have consented to having their organs donated for transplant following their deaths unless they had registered an objection.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Dr Evan Harris called on the Government to allow a free vote on an amendment to the Human Tissue Bill which would provide for the replacement of the existing opt in system for organ donations with an opt out, or presumed consent, system.

Dr Harris, a former hospital doctor and a member of the British Medical Association's medical ethics committee, made the call after the concept received significant backing in a BBC radio listeners' poll on ideas for new legislation.

He said he would be tabling the amendment to the Bill himself, and had the backing of patient groups such as the National Kidney Federation, as well as the BMA.

Dr Harris said: "Hundreds of patients die each year while waiting for an organ transplant.

"These tragic deaths, often of young people, are entirely avoidable since hundreds of organs are lost each year following deaths of potential donors who would have wanted them to be used to save or transform the lives of others, but who never opted in through the donor card or organ register and whose relatives refused permission, unable to second guess their loved ones' wishes.

"It is time for the Government to engage in the public debate on this important issue and MPs must be given a free vote, as it is a matter of conscience."

Dr Harris said that opt out systems worked well in many other European countries, producing significant increases in the number of organs available.

Copyright © 2004 Scotsman.com.

This article posted January 24, 2004.