by Siobhan Shier

Created on: February 03, 2009

If you die do they have the right to take your organs? If you haven't said no - presumed consent says yes for you. This policy is being used in countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and others. Unless the corpse's name is in the government registry their body is free game.

The US uses a policy of indicating organ donation status on the driver's license but has considered switching to a policy of presumed consent. The vice president of the Presumed Consent Foundation, David Courtney, has argued that it "would provide the best method of alleviating the suffering we have in this country." He argues the importance of the policy saying: "We've spent millions on education and awareness and we haven't seen any huge improvements [in organ donation]" and "We simply have to change the way we're doing things." His arguments seem sound. If your loved one was dying and needed and organ, but one was available because someone just forgot to put a sticker on their licence, wouldn't you want to do whatever it took to save your loved one - even if it meant assuming that the corpse would have been okay with it?

The opposition believes that presumed consent is unethical and is a nail in the coffin of human rights. A senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, Wesley Smith, pointed out that "If people ever come to believe that the issue of getting the organ becomes more important than the patient and the family, I worry it will undercut what is already a pretty thin trust of the whole process." He, and others, believe that the American people are too sensitive and will be pushed over the edge by having their corpses cut open to save other people's lives.

The viewpoints on this subject are rooted in two different philosophies. People who want to push presumed consent forward in the US want to save lives - no matter what. People who are against it generally believe that a family's grieving right to a body is more important than anyone else's life. Religion steps in and plays a role as some religions do not believe you live on if your body is defiled by having its organs taken out.

So, if you die, do they have the right to take your organs? If you haven't bothered to say no - of course! It isn't that difficult to have yourself registered as someone who is selfish enough to want their body completely intact, no matter whose life it might save. Presumed consent means that people like me, who lost their little sticker before managing to get it on the license, can still save lives despite our own forgetfulness to say yes.

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