Families are to be given a bigger role as part of changes to organ donation laws in Wales.
Speaking in the Senedd this week, Health Minister Mark Drakeford pledged to steer the Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill safely to legislation.
If the Bill became law, a person would have to opt out of the donor system if they did not want their organs passed on in the event of their death. At the moment, people opt in to the system by joining the national Organ Donor Register.
There had been concern over the lack of clarity of the role of family members of the deceased.
Professor Drakeford said: “At the core of the Human Transplantation Bill is the proposition that, in future…three equally valid choices will be available – to register a wish to be a donor, by opting in, to register a wish not to be a donor, by opting out, or to deem consent to donation by taking no action.
“Deemed consent will bring about a cultural shift in the way donation proceeds in Wales. It will alter the nature of some of the most difficult conversations any family might face.”
In talking about the family’s role in the decision-making process, the Minister said: “Deemed consent donation will not go ahead in the absence of any family member. In deemed consent cases, the presence of the family is essential – both as a source of necessary information about the potential donor and in order to ensure that donation does not go ahead in the face of the deceased’s known objection to organ donation.
“That position will now be reflected on the face of the Bill. I will bring forward an amendment, at Stage Two, in response to recommendations from both the Health and Social Care Committee and the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, which will provide a clear right of objection for family members, where they can confirm that a potential donor would not have wished donation to take place.”
The Minister added: “I am very grateful to all those who have contributed to the debate on this Bill since its inclusion in the Government’s legislative programme. The result, I believe, is that we will have a better Bill, a Bill which will do what everyone wishes to see – fewer lives lost, in circumstances where donation makes that difference.”