Removing the barriers to consent for organ donation

Herald Scotland
Within 24 hours of these words appearing in print, Team GB is likely to have won at least three more medals, and during the same time frame at least three more British people will probably die waiting for an organ transplant.

Each year about 1000 patients lose their fight for life, a life that could have been saved by an altruistic gift from someone they probably had never met.

This has led to widespread calls for the replacement of the current opt-in system for organ donation by what is known as a soft opt-out system, where a person's consent is assumed unless they have objected in their lifetime. Wales is consulting on such a scheme, which has improved the level of donated organs in Belgium and Spain. Recently our sister paper, the Evening Times, has done much to raise the profile of the opt-out campaign through a well-supported petition and by sharing stories of the suffering of those waiting for transplants and the joy of those who have had one.

How far would an opt-out mechanism go towards eliminating the growing transplant organ shortage? Much depends on the attitude adopted towards the views of the bereaved family and relatives.

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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}