Wales has moved a step closer to being the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce an opt-out scheme for organ donation. A proposed legislative competence order (a form of secondary legislation) relating to organ and tissue donation has been laid before the Welsh Assembly. The aim of the order is to transfer specific powers from the UK parliament to the assembly in relation to consent to organ donation. It would allow Welsh ministers to introduce a system of presumed consent to organ donation. Edwina Hart, the assembly’s minister for health, said, “We would do that in order to increase the number of potential organs available for transplantation.
A cancer patient who was supposed to receive regular check ups says he was devastated when he was finally seen and told the disease had spread. Retired teacher Henry Clark from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, needed three-monthly check ups at West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen. But "serious failures" meant he was not seen for more than a year. Hywel Dda Health Board has been criticised for what happened and has apologised.
Some doctors are set to argue against moves towards an organ donation system of presumed consent in the UK. Under presumed consent all people are assumed to be willing to donate their organs unless they have opted out. No part of the UK has introduced such a system yet, although the Welsh assembly favours the idea. However, delegates at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Cardiff will debate later whether the move could damage trust in doctors. Those in favour of presumed consent, which has been supported by the BMA for the last 10 years, believe it would help boost UK donation rates, which, despite recent improvements, still lag behind many other countries.
Families would have no legal right to stop dead relatives' organs being used for transplant if the person has not opted out in advance, under a proposed Welsh law. However, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said she could not see a situation where doctors took organs without the permission of families.
A woman with "severe" anorexia who wanted to be allowed to die is to be force fed in her "best interests" by order of a High Court judge. Mr Justice Peter Jackson declared that the 32-year-old from Wales, who cannot be identified, did not have the capacity to make decisions for herself. He made public his judgment on Friday after making the ruling last month.
The Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill aims to increase the number of organs and tissues available for transplant by introducing a soft opt-out system of organ and tissue donation in Wales.
This review was carried out with the aim of updating an existing systematic review conducted by the University of York in 2008. It examined the impact of ‘opt-out’ legislation on organ donation rates. This paper presents three main strands of evidence: International evidence suggests that an association exists between presumed consent legislation and increased organ donation rates; Recent surveys indicate that there is significant support for the introduction of an opt-out system for organ donation in Wales; Experimental literature provides evidence for a mechanism through which presumed consent might increase organ donation, through the influence of the default position.
This report provides a general overview of extant research involving the families of potential organ donors. Research highlights a number of potentially modifiable factors which are associated with family consent rates. Many of these relate to the approach made by medical staff to the family, such as the timing and experience of professional(s) making the donation request.