Organ donation opt-out

[philipjohn]

No description provided.

[PaulJRobinson]

Agreed although I would like to amend the wording from 'desparate need'
which implies organs will be used only to go into other people in order to
keep them alive. Shouldn't this PR also allow organs/bodies to be used for
medical research and help save thousands more lives by assisting in the
search for cures?

with kind regards,
Paul Robinson

about.me/pauljrobinson

On 1 February 2014 20:45, philipjohn notifications@github.com wrote:

---

You can merge this Pull Request by running

git pull https://github.com/philipjohn/manifesto organ-donation

Or view, comment on, or merge it at:

#90
Commit Summary

• Organ donation opt-out

File Changes

• M health.mdhttps://github.com/Organ donation opt-out #90/files#diff-0(2)

Patch Links:

• https://github.com/openpolitics/manifesto/pull/90.patch
• https://github.com/openpolitics/manifesto/pull/90.diff

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//pull/90
.

[philipjohn]

Agreed! Last commit broadens the wording.

[frankieroberto]

I agree with this in principle, but having read into this a bit before, it seems that the most significant issue affecting organ donation rates isn't consent, but other issues such as planning and discussing it with patients and their families in hospitals (as most donation happens from patients already in hospital, rather than unexpected accidents).

One thing that could be looked at instead is not allowing parents or next-of-kin to 'override' the expressed wishes of a person to allow their organs to be donated (which can happen at the moment). However it might be better instead to work on ways to reduce these conflicts instead (e.g. through greater discussion and public understanding).

[Floppy]

👍

Also, agreed with @frankieroberto that overriding the wishes of the deceased should not be allowed.

This is a really interesting post from GDS on their findings of how organ donation options were presented: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2013/08/06/organ-donation-and-ab-testing/

[philipjohn]

"most significant issue affecting organ donation rates isn't consent, but other issues such as planning and discussing it with patients and their families in hospitals" Wouldn't that be covered by the default being opt-in? Or are you saying many families are explicitly refusing organ donation at/around the time of death?

I'm also unsure if there is a need for the 'overriding' bit. If we take a default opt-in approach, we're assuming everyone is okay with that unless that specify otherwise. Therefore, by overriding their wishes the family would be opting FOR organ donation. Now that I've typed that out, I guess it still applies.... we don't want families to say "have their organs" if the person already said no.

I'm unsure of wording here though, any suggestions?

[PaulJRobinson]

@philipjohn yes I think that's the key issue: individuals who've given
consent to organ donation haven't discussed their wishes with family, and
doctors expecting to use those organs are forbidden from doing so by family
at the bed-side. At least that is the anecdotal evidence I've heard: don't
know how often that's actually happened.

I think that preventing the wishes of the individual from being overidden,
whether the system remains as it is, or becomes a 'default to opt-in'
system, is key. As you say it's not right for families to start giving
organs away if that isn't what the individual wanted.

with kind regards,
Paul Robinson

about.me/pauljrobinson

On 4 February 2014 18:03, philipjohn notifications@github.com wrote:

"most significant issue affecting organ donation rates isn't consent, but
other issues such as planning and discussing it with patients and their
families in hospitals" Wouldn't that be covered by the default being
opt-in? Or are you saying many families are explicitly refusing organ
donation at/around the time of death?

I'm also unsure if there is a need for the 'overriding' bit. If we take a
default opt-in approach, we're assuming everyone is okay with that unless
that specify otherwise. Therefore, by overriding their wishes the family
would be opting FOR organ donation. Now that I've typed that out, I guess
it still applies.... we don't want families to say "have their organs" if
the person already said no.

I'm unsure of wording here though, any suggestions?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//pull/90#issuecomment-34088264
.

[philipjohn]

How's that guys?

[Floppy]

👍

[frankieroberto]

👍

[Floppy]

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