The Welsh Government has outlined its policy of introducing presumed consent for organ donation in Wales.
Wales will be the first UK country to introduce such a system, designed to increase the number of organ and tissue donors, if legislation is approved.
Currently, people have to opt to join the NHS organ donor register if they want to donate their organs and tissues after their death.
A soft opt-out system for Wales means unless an individual makes an objection their organs and tissues will be available for donation after their death. After death relatives will be involved in the decision making process around donation.
However, if the deceased person has not opted out, then families will have no legal right to medics donating that person’s organs.
The Welsh Government has said that introducing an opt out scheme will boost the number of organs donated. One person a week in Wales dies while waiting for a suitable donor and around 300 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant.
The timetable for the introduction of an opt-out system will be laid out in a White Paper. A Bill will be introduced in 2012, legislation could be in place by 2013 and a soft opt-out system could come into effect in 2015.
The White Paper sets out proposals for how the system would work including:
Only people aged 18 or over who both live and die in Wales would be included under the system;
Individuals must have lived in Wales for a sufficient period of time before being included in an opt-out system – the White Paper invites views on how long that period should be; and
Proposing four options for how people’s wishes on donation could be recorded – including keeping a register of both those who have objected and not objected, or keeping no register of objection.
Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said: “The shortage of organs and tissues continues to cause unnecessary deaths and suffering, both to patients waiting for a transplant and their relatives.
“The Welsh Government believes that this legislation will go a long way to increasing the number of organs and tissues available.
“When people die, donation of their organs and tissues is often possible but currently does not happen – not because they did not wish to donate but because they never got round to joining the organ donor register.
“Repeated surveys show that the overwhelming majority of people in the UK and Wales believe in organ donation, but only one in three people in Wales have joined the organ donor register.
“Last year 67% of donors were not on the organ donor register. Therefore we believe creating an environment in which donation is the norm will enable more organs to be available. People are more likely to make decisions about donation during their lifetime and to have discussed their wishes with their family under such a system.
“Upon legislation being approved however, people will be given time to opt-out if they so wish, and families will still be involved in the donation process.
“A soft opt-out system will not change the way patients are cared for – including the medical treatment they will receive – up to and including the time of death. Neither will it change the way in which death is confirmed as there are very clear and strict standards and procedures for confirming death.
“Introducing a soft opt-out system will mean people are more likely to make decisions about donation during their lifetime and to have discussed their wishes with their family.”
Consultation on the proposals outlined in the White Paper opens today and closes on January 31 2012.
This is a bad idea as I feel people should have the right to remain silent and donorship should be a gift.
Surveys around about donorship are only as useful as the question asked. People saying they 'support' donorship should be understood in the same way as people 'supporting' charity. It doesn't mean they will automatically give or are telling you the truth. There is an element of guilt in that people feel bad about turning down worthy causes. Not many people will say that they don't support charity.
The fact that people need organs, in my view, does not create a right to them in the event of silence. So-called presumed consent stops this act of charity as a gift. The obligation is to either reject (and end up on yet another database) or to remain silent and have the organs taken. There is no gifting involved and it has an unpleasant smell of people being treated as spare-parts.