by Ray Burke

Created on: November 23, 2008   Last Updated: February 03, 2009

Organ Donations: Opting in or out?

I have never really thought about donating my organs once I was gone. I probably wouldn't have minded either way, but then the subject of Opting Out or Presumed Consent hit the headlines in England and it was rejected by government advisors. The main reasons were it could undermine trust between doctors and patients if patients thought they were mere ready-made-organs-to-go and that better run organ donation campaigns would be a better system. But there must be other reasons why people like myself are still in a quandary over whether to opt in or out, whether for cultural, scientific or religious reasons.

Cultural:

While the Opt Out option is a well-meaning way to get more organs into the system for transplants, it's also a simplistic notion. Yes, there may be more organs available, but matches to recipients, bureaucracy, potential organ surpluses and storage issues, and illegal organ sales could all still be problems under the Opt Out system. People would be lulled into thinking that enough organs are available and opt out, leading to cycles of shortages and Opt In/Out debates again. Such apathy could lead to disruptions in blood and bone marrow donations, as people lose trust in such procedures. Not everyone feels that a person should automatically be a donor upon death. Organ donation should be a gift rather than obligation, so stealth legalisation with little or no choice over options is not the way to go.

Spain has had the Opt Out system for years, but credits donation increases from its high profile public awareness campaign. While most continental European countries can be a bit more enlightened on social issues, Britain's government has tended to extend state powers into the personal arena, but its poor record on data collection, protection, interpretation, dissemination, and costs has not endeared it to the public. On this basis, most people would reject the Opt Out system, no matter how beneficial, just because of the government's involvement.

Scientific:

Personally, I wouldn't mind being cremated, being sent into space (though at the back of my mind there would be the thought that aliens would find me and reanimate me), or made into diamonds, so I probably would not need my organs. Or I could donate my body to science or to one of those CSI farms where they study the effects of decomposition on bodies over time, where I might need my organs. I might want to be cryogenically frozen for some future purpose where my intactness

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