15 January 2007

Organ Donation Petition

Under current UK law, your organs may be used for transplants (after your death) only if you explicitly “opt-in” to the system by adding your name to the NHS Organ Donor Register. Too few do so: the NHS has a critical need for far more organs than this system provides.

The link below is to an e-petition lobbying the government to change the system from “opt-in” to “opt-out”, so that organs in dead adult bodies would be automatically available for transplant unless the deceased had explicitly registered his/her dissent (or his/her family does so post-mortem).

A move by Evan Harris (Lib Dem. MP) to amend the Human Tissue Bill to his effect was defeated in parliament in 2004, but the issue is unlikely to go away. (Austria and Spain already have an opt-out system. Demand for organs in the UK continues far to exceed supply, etc.)

If you agree that the system should be changed, and you're a UK resident, please sign the petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Organ-Donation

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