Organ donation: Opt-out bill to be published in Wales

 

 

Welsh government proposals would automatically add people to the organ donor register

 

Legislation to change the organ donation system in Wales will be published on Monday.

The Welsh government wants an opt-out scheme, which means everyone is assumed to have consented to becoming a donor when they die, and only those who object will be taken off the register.

But Health Minister Lesley Griffiths has said she cannot imagine organs being removed if a family objects.
Supporters say change will mean more organs being available for transplants.

But church leaders have opposed the changes and the Law Society has called for more clarity on what role will be left for families when a relative dies.

The reforms would make Wales the first country in the UK to adopt a system of presumed consent.
 

The draft Human Transplantation (Wales) Bill follows a public consultation, which ministers say found support for their plans.

Once it passes through the assembly the new system could be in place by 2015.
With 300 people on the transplant waiting list, the Welsh government wants to improve the rate of organ donation.

But the Church in Wales, the Roman Catholic Church in Wales and the Wales Orthodox Mission have called for a re-think, with other critics saying there is no evidence that changing the law will work.
'Talk to families'

  Dr George Findlay, chair of the Welsh Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, and a consultant in intensive care at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales, said: As a doctor we are not going to do anything against family wishes.

"It is a terrible time to talk to families. It helps if you know what a patient's wishes are.

"If patients haven't opted out we would hope to talk to families about what organ donation is and the fact that their family has expressed to be an organ donor and, hopefully, that could be followed through.

"The role of the family is crucial and essential and will not change under this legislation."

He said organ donation has increased by 50% in Wales over the last four years, and key to that has been the appointment of a specialist organ donation nurse at every hospital.

But he said it was hoped those figures could improve further over time because the biggest "obstacle" is lack of family support after their relative dies which he hoped the new legislation would help to resolve.

Winston Roddick QC, a barrister and former leader of the Wales circuit, said the purpose of the government's consultation was to identify uncertainties and anxieties about presumed consent and he expects the Bill to reflect such concerns.

However, the Bill may be brief in its explanation, he explained.

"We may not get an answer today to all these uncertainties when we see the Bill, we may have to wait for the secondary legislation," he told BBC Radio Wales