Posted: 31-Aug-2006 << BACK
BBC News click here to read the article
Laws governing organ donation and tissue retention are to be overhauled, possibly allowing more transplants
Under the Human Tissue Act, people will have a legal right for their wishes to be followed, meaning doctors could over-rule relatives' objections.
Chris Rudge, managing director of UK Transplant, said the wishes of approximately one in 10 possible donors were overturned by their families under the current system.
From today's Guardian............click here to read the rest of the article
....The act will also formalise the process of organ donation. From tomorrow the wishes of a dead person will legally take precedence over those of the next of kin. If a person has recorded their wish to donate by joining the NHS organ donor register or carrying a donor card, relatives will no longer be able to overrule the decision.
Dr McNeil said doctors would have to exercise judgment if relatives had strong objections. "If there were a genuine objection, practitioners should take that into account," he said. "The code of practice suggests that the family should have their position in law explained to them and have the benefits of donation to the recipient explained to them."
The new laws will allow more people to make organ donations while still alive. For the first time, pooled donation - where a donor and recipient whose blood groups or tissue types are mismatched are paired with another donor and recipient in the same situation - and donation where a living person has never met the recipient will be legal. The HTA said living donations could save dozens of lives a year.
Chris Rudge, managing director of UK Transplant, said there was a critical shortage of donated organs. "NHS staff are aware that we have a duty to respect the wishes of a patient after their death and if someone has expressed a wish to donate, they should do whatever they can to ensure that those wishes are fulfilled..............
