In Wales, they have made a new system where, by default, everyone donates organs when they die. You can opt out easily, but this will make more organs available to the community in need. This article states that 67% or organ donors last year were not on the organ donor list, meaning most people who support organ donation are just too lazy or for some other reason have not gotten on the list (for me I know if it wasn't so easy when you apply for a driver's license I would not have done it). This will not only make more organs more readily available, but it will also force people to think about whether or not they want to be off of the organ donor list, as opposed to the other way around. Making the decision to not donate is too easy now.
The need for organs has provided great motivation for research (with 3D printing and other tissue engineering techniques, which I have mentioned here before) but this is slow and has a ways to go before any of these can be implemented with larger organs. By putting everyone on the donor list and only removing them if they ask, doctors will be able to quickly transfer organs. The Welch government says patients' families will still be allowed to refuse the removal of their organs, but this will give a more full list of donors, as people who actually do not want to donate will remove their names.
S
I kinda feel like this might cause more problems, families will fight over whether or not the person actually wanted their organs donated, and John/Jane Does might have organs harvested for transplant before they figure out who they are just because MOST people will be on the donor list. I absolutely support organ donation of course.. but it makes me wonder how the courts are going to handle these kinds of cases!
ReplyDelete