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Organ donation questions…

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Organ donation is increasing in the United Kingdom. My country changed the rules so people had to be proactive and had to ‘opt out’ of donating rather than ‘opt in’ to donate. We carry a card to prove our acceptance of that law. It is, of course, still up to your immediate family when you die if the organs can be released; its a very difficult time and understandable. But lives are saved and lives improved if more organs available.

Recently the National Health Service here has ‘ramped up’ their campaign to get more organs in and so people to donate. Cynics like me say its to sell them to foreign patients and heath services abroad at great profit. Our population is growing and increasingly ethic and anyone in medicine knows that organs need matches in their own gene pool. Due to resistance in some communities 1-in-3 people waiting for donor organ in the UK are black and Asian people. This group, sadly, is more likely to suffer certain diseases that lead to failed or malfunctioning organs. It seems those communities tend not to trust the system enough to donate organs and so a lot more of their gene match go without. Asians like their sweet things and 6 TIMES more likely to develop type two diabetes and three times more likely for heart disease..As they are more reticent to get treatment they are more likely to lose limbs and organs. This is one of the reasons we have high levels of health tourism here from around the world, free care given to foreigners who come her to be treated free.

  • Question of

    Does your country operate an opt out or opt in donor system?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Would you carry a card to donate?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Would you pay for an organ with private healthcare?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Do your religious beliefs stop you donating?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Do your religious beliefs stop you receiving a donation?

    • Yes
    • No

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Organ donation

Written by Phillip Ellis

4 Comments

  1. I am rather shocked by your racial stereotyping, Phillip. Your sweeping generalisations are not helpful. And your scare-mongering conspiracy-theorising (“its to sell them to foreign patients and heath services abroad at great profit”) is extremely counter-productive and nothing short of disgraceful.

  3. Yes, I carry a donor card too, and always will do. If my organs are good enough to use, then I am more than happy for them to be released if it will help someone.

  4. I carry a donor card, as do all my immediate family. I cannot understand why anyone would refuse to allow a close relative’s organs to be donated – such refusal strikes me as the height of selfishness. If you could save a life simply by saying “yes” why would you not do so?

    And yes – it should be the law that all organs are available for donation, with no exceptions for opting out on religious or any other grounds.