CA - Many bothered by presumed organ consent

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Thursday April 19, 2007

Many

bothered by presumed organ consent: report

Canadian Press

TORONTO — Presumed consent provisions when it

comes to organ donation makes most people uncomfortable and Ontario should

instead focus on, among other things, recruiting living donors to meet the

demand, says a report released Thursday. Although there's an urgent need to

help the more than 1,750 Ontario residents awaiting organ donation, doctors

should get explicit permission from dying patients before assuming they will

donate, the report states.

Under a

presumed consent system, everyone in the province would automatically be an

organ donor when they die unless they specifically opted out. " The people who actually make the

decision of whether or not (to donate), they weren't very hot on (presumed

consent),'' said Ted Boadway, chairman of a citizens

panel commissioned by the province to explore the issue. " People

were quite clear. They want their wishes to be respected.'' The panel was unanimously in favour of supporting living donations because they thought

it was " one of the highest expressions of altruistic behaviour

they could think of,'' Boadway added.

Live

donors are those who could provide a kidney or part of a liver to someone in

need. The panel recommended such donors be compensated

for lost wages, travel, accommodation and child care

expenses if they choose to help. Last year, British

Columbia brought in a pilot project that reimburses

live donors up to $5,500 for similar expenses. Health

Minister erman said he was pleased with

the recommendations regarding live donors and agreed it's a good solution. " It's really, really crucial to acknowledge that if

we want to get at that really big number of people that are on the waiting list

for a transplant ... living donors are the answer,'' erman

said.

" The

report gives us a particularly strong (push) on that point, to do a more

effective job of supporting those who are willing to make such a big commitment

to another human being through the gift of an organ.'' The

group also endorsed a system requiring people to state their views on organ

donation when applying for, or renewing, a driver's licence

or health card _ the basis of a private member's bill introduced by an

Opposition member. Boadway

said the panel chose not to specifically endorse Conservative critic Klees' bill to avoid making the report too political, but

applauded the principle behind the proposed legislation.

The

Ontario Medical Association also spoke out in support for the bill, which led Klees to hope the government would pass it. " This is

something that is an administrative measure that is really of no cost, it can

be implemented very quickly, we can have it on our application forms by the end

of the year,'' he said. The idea could do a lot of

good in forcing people to think about the issue now, rather than at the last

second when it's often too late, said Trillium Gift of Life Network president

Markel. " Enough

people don't think about this ahead of time and so they find themselves with a

sudden loss in their family, they're consumed by grief, all they can think

about is their loss,'' he said. " They can't think

beyond that to reach out and help someone else.'' erman said Klees's bill has been helpful in promoting debate about

organ donation but added " I doubt it's the whole package'' and that it

likely wouldn't win government support.

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