While clearly a lot of work had gone into producing this report, a major concern for the British Medical Association is the way the report itself, and members of the Taskforce in presenting the report, discussed the evidence about the impact of presumed consent on donation rates.
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.
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.
This report documents changes since the ODT 2008 report. It records significant improvements that have been made to infrastructure and projected 34% increase in donation rates over 4 yrs to April 2012. The report notes, however, that even if Taskforce’s target of a 50% increase in donation rates by 2013 is achieved, people will still be dying unnecessarily while waiting for an organ. We believe that we now need to decide whether we should be satisfied that we have done all we can or whether we should seek to build on what has already been achieved by shifting our attention to additional ways of increasing number of organ donors. The report examines a range of options that have been suggested for increasing the number of donors including a system of mandated choice, reciprocity, a regulated market or paying the funeral expenses of those who sign up to the ODR and subsequently donate organs. The report also explains why we remain convinced that an opt-out system with safeguards is best.