The law in England is about to change concerning organ transplants. Instead of the earlier opt-in system it is going to be opt-out. That is, unless an objection is made, it is presumed that organs in a corpse will be available for transplant. The problem with this? It’s not going to change the rate of transplant at all. We’ve actual and direct evidence of this. Wales changed their law a few years back and it’s not made the blindest bit of difference.
Zero lives will be saved by this nationalisation of our bodies:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Plans to change the rules on organ donation consent in England are set to clear their final hurdle in Parliament. The legislation will be known as Max and Keira’s Law after a boy who received a heart transplant and the girl who donated it. Under the new system, which comes into effect next year, consent will be presumed unless people have opted out. Currently, there is a voluntary opt-in scheme. Presumed consent has been operating in Wales since December 2015. Organ donation consent rates in Wales are now the highest in the UK at 75%. [/perfectpullquote]Sure, those consent numbers are high. But that’s not what we’re interested in at all. Rather, we want to know what’s the effect upon the number of transplants?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Two years after Wales adopted an “opt-out” system for organ donation, there is no evidence that it has increased the rate of transplantations. A report by the Welsh government has found that in the 21 months after the new presumed consent legislation came into effect on 1 December 2015, there were 104 donors, while in the corresponding period before the act there had been 101. The difference is insignificant. [/perfectpullquote]Oh. Actually, this is so well known that even the BBC reported it:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Wales’ opt-out system for organ donation has not increased the number of donors in the two years since it was introduced, a study has confirmed. Adults in Wales are presumed to have consented to organ donation unless they have opted out. The data was published in a Welsh Government report about the impact of the Human Transplantation (Wales) Act. [/perfectpullquote]It’s not just well known, it’s official. And yet we’ve all got to go do the same because?
The only thing we know of which actually does increase organ donation rates is paying people for their organs. But we’re not allowed to do that because money, it’s icky.
The language we use matters - it provides clarity to our own thoughts and enables…
It is now generally acknowledged that the structure of the NHS needs to be overhauled…
In the film Apollo 13, a loss of oxygen causes the crew to start inadvertently…
There's an idea out there which seems intuitive but then so many ideas do seem…
When we think about the darkly opaque goals of modern central bankers as they relate…
As the papers recently filled with the distressing images of desperate souls looking to escape…
View Comments
There's a non-sequitur here but I just can't see it...
Unless you opt out by making a will the state owns your real assets after death, and reserves to itself the power to make decisions as to what to do with them, I philosophically have little disagreement with the state owning my physical remains unless I have opted out. (Even by making a will you are not really opting out of the state inheriting your assets on death, it's just that the state has chosen to bind itself to respecting the directions in a will.)
Rather, we want to know what’s the effect upon the number of transplants?
Why do you want to know this? The law has nothing to do with transplants. It's a typical 'virtue-signal' - a law put in place as a knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy which resulted in a public call to 'do something'. This is something, therefore it's done. And it solves to problem of protesters knocking on government's door quite well....
In fact, it's rather a good response. It doesn't seem to alter anything, and it employs a load of new civil servants. Sir Humphrey would have been proud.
Quite often, such knee-jerk legislation makes the original problem much worse. We should be thankful for small mercies....