Brown wants your organs......

[Taf]

PM Brown wants to change the system for organ donation... you will have to say no to donation or they will be taken...

So no more "donation" more "harvesting"?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7186007.stm

Mine will all be useless by now anyway.... but I don't fancy the idea of Government fiddling in this subject.

[Lisa]

in both cases you have to hope for your wishes to be respected.
Even now, with a donor card they still need permission from the next of kin to do it. I know i have spoken at length with my family, that they can take what they want as i won't be needing anymore. I have also put myself on the register and give blood regulary. BUT I also know that if my family are ever put in that awful position they may still say no. Of course i can hope that they won't do that, but i won't be here to make sure otherwise.

What is needed most of all, is that once someone registers for organ donation the next of kin CANNOT veto that decision.

Personally i have no problem with the opt out situation.

[Mike]

Same here, in surveys over 80% of the population support donation, but only 25 % carry cards or are registered on line, I've been registered since I was 18 with the full support of my family.

If we had opt out the waiting lists for transplants could be cleared in a year.

It wouldn't be harvesting the organ can only be used during a small time period and the removal operation is  surgical not just hacking the organ out, and the decision would be medical and if there was more choice better matches would be made meaning less rejection problems

To register on line http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/consent.jsp

[Loobyloo]

Monty python anyone

[Nanaof2]

in both cases you have to hope for your wishes to be respected.
Even now, with a donor card they still need permission from the next of kin to do it. I know i have spoken at length with my family, that they can take what they want as i won't be needing anymore. I have also put myself on the register and give blood regulary. BUT I also know that if my family are ever put in that awful position they may still say no. Of course i can hope that they won't do that, but i won't be here to make sure otherwise.

Quite. I carry a donor card allowing use of my organs (but not my whole body) but my ex-husband always used to say if they ever asked for his permission he would say no - my kids were unimpressed with his views and agreed to give permission if they got to the hospital first!
My current hubby says he would give permission as that's the whole reason for me carrying the card!
 
Maybe they could ask us if we want our next of kin to be approached for permission in the first place?

[Spite]

   If I'm dead, they can have them.  But, if they're not certain about my survival, I'm worried that I may be allowed to die, or my family misinformed.

[Nanaof2]

   If I'm dead, they can have them.  But, if they're not certain about my survival, I'm worried that I may be allowed to die, or my family misinformed.

Good point - but maybe if there's an opt out policy there will be more than enough donors without having to hasten anyone's departure...

[Admiral-SirJohn]

Personally, I think this plan has merit.  Yes, it could be misused, but then the doctors would be open to malpractice suits, and (at least, over here) they're already rather paranoid about that, so I suspect they'd err on the side of prolonging life (or suffering) rather than ending it prematurely.

In fact, I rather wish this sort of plan were in place over here.  Like Mike said, it would clear the transplant backlog within a year.

And even those unsuited to transplantation are useful.  Medical schools can use organs in nearly any condition to teach new doctors how to recognize and treat various conditions, thereby improving the quality of healthcare in the long run.

I'm pretty sure my organs fall into the second category, but if my demise comes sooner rather than later, I'd hope my parents would give their permission for harvesting, for whatever reason.  I certainly won't need them anymore...

[Spite]

  I worry that Doctors, (Who are competitive by nature.) would rather save the life of a high profile case, than some drab, ordinary soul.

[Admiral-SirJohn]

That's already the case...

[Spite]

That's already the case...

  That's why no organ donor card in my wallet, but my family know my wishes.

[Taf]

It appears, once more, that this is not a Brown-inspired piece of legislation.

French radio yesterday was on about something one of the speakers called "The Pan European Blood and Organ Organistaion". Cross border transfers of tissue and vital liquids where and when they were needed.

But then he went on about people donating organs and blood in France, only for these donations be sold to countries outside Europe to help balance the books of the French Health System!!!