On December 1, Wales will become the first UK country to introduce a soft opt-out system of organ donation.
The new law, which was passed in July 2013, will mean that people will have to opt-out of the register if they do not want their organs donated after their death.
Speaking previously on the new law, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford said: “On December 1, Wales will become the first country in the UK to introduce a soft opt-out system. We hope this will help save lives by transforming attitudes towards consent to organ donation.
“During the public awareness campaign, we’ve met and worked with some wonderful people who have the most incredible organ donation stories to share. What keeps coming up when people share their stories is the importance of having conversations about organ donation.
“I hope that people continue talking to their loved ones about their organ donation choices.”
People who have lived in Wales for more than 12 months, who do not opt in to the register or opt out, will be regarded as having consented to organ donation if they die.
Families will have a veto if they know that a deceased person’s wishes was for their organs not to be donated.
For more information about the change in the law, and to opt out or opt in, visit organdonationwales.org or call 0300 123 23 23.
Think of all these elderly people who do not understand the change in the law. Their organs may be good to use but their wishes ignored. The state has effectively taken ownership of their bodies.
It can be magnified though. What if these elderly people have no family to veto? What if these elderly people have wishes but their family had no profit of that – will the courts/doctors listen?
If everyone is assumed an organ donor could there be a similar culture to the Liverpool Care Pathway where doctors have incentives to let people die people by not providing them with food and nutrients? Will doctors really attach the same value to the life of an elderly person with no family as attached to the life of a twenty-something, potential organ recipient with a life ahead?
Yes a good point you raise, now under the new organ donation system your body will belong to the state when you die – unless you opt out. This is another example of government making decisions for us, which I don’t agree with.
The simple solution for those who feel as you do is to `opt out`
your fears are nebulous
But not everyone has access to the Internet, or even a telephone. To introduce deemed consent you need an educated populous – there are many adults who can’t read or right. In death we should all be treated with dignity and respect, not as a spare part on a doctors wanted list. Deemed consent organ donation is unethical.
This is exactly the point, for the government to assume somebody gives consent to anything just because they have not taken steps to register is unethical.
I registered that I do not want to be an organ donor, today, for this very reason. If this legislation is scrapped I will go back to carrying an organ donor card.
Richard, I agree entirely. It is typically socialist/fascist for the state to presume that it owns the bodies of its citizens either in life or death. This legislation needs to be scrapped at the earliest opportunity.
Yes, breath taking arrogance by the Welsh Assembly. I wish that instead of intruding on every aspect of our lives they would concentrate on things that do benefit our country and are achievable within their remit.
These include, looking at best practise globally to make the changes necessary to improve Welsh education and attracting investment to Wales with a view to providing better paid jobs.
There is little to disagree with in respect to measures taken to increase the availability of human organs for transplanting, and in most cases, saving lives.
But this `scheme` is the Welsh Government making decisions for an official order laying claim via a requisition for the use of property or material i.e. human bodies. The element of ` consent` should be paramount. I also doubt if this mandatory presumption of consent will make much difference at all to an increased availability of human organs. This entire issue should be left to Doctors and bereaved relatives. It seems to me to almost be a case of `body snatching`. It seems the legacy of `Burk and Hare` lives on in this Welsh Law. They also took bodies and made them available to a disectionist Doctor.
There has to be better ways of persuading people to freely donate organs to give the gift of life to others.
“There has to be better ways of persuading people to freely donate organs to give the gift of life to others”.
This the crux of the matter, this statement is absolutely right. The assumption is that because people don’t find a computer, go online and register not to be a organ donor, is that they approve of the legislation. This is both dangerous and unethical.
Imagine a referendum, on any question, where those who failed to cast a vote were all assumed to agree with the government’s view? I agree with Trefor that the legislation is unlikely to make more organs available for transplant but will surely lead to court cases on the matter of assumed consent. The lawyers must be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of a new income stream for them.
Burke and Hare were convicted of murder not body snatching.
The Doctors who used the bodies, and created the body snaching industry is the point of my comment, and not a particularly serious point at that.
Yeah I know I was being facetious.
They can have everything from my tears to my toenails when I pass but this legislation does seem to set a worrying precedent. As mentioned here by others this does suggest in principle that the state owns your person and not the other way around. It may seem a small and negligible point but it sets in motion a very different relationship between “us and them”. To many that may sound irrelevant and unworthy of focus in the face of such a worthy cause but from small acorns…
These incremental changes in culture are like snowballs rolling down a hill , they are always getting bigger and are difficult to stop.