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British Leader Urges Easier Organ Donation

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By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, The Associated Press

Published: January 14, 2008

LONDON - Britain's prime minister called Sunday for overhauling the country's organ donation system to make it easier for doctors to remove body parts from deceased patients without prior consent.
Gordon Brown noted in an opinion piece that more than a thousand people die in Britain each year waiting for organ transplants.

Switching to a Spanish-style opt-out system - in which consent is presumed - could save thousands of lives, he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"A system of this kind seems to have the potential to close the aching gap between the potential benefits of transplant surgery and the limits imposed by our current system of consent," Brown said.

Under current British law, organs may be removed only from patients who make their consent known - for example, by carrying an organ donor card - or with the consent of a family member if intent was not specified.

An opt-out system would presume consent unless potential donors explicitly registered their disapproval. That would make it easier for doctors to approach families with requests for donations, said Tony Calland, chairman of the British Medical Association's medical ethics committee.

"It changes the awareness of people about organ donation and transplantation, in general," he said.

More than 7,500 people are waiting for organs in Britain.

"In Spain, where they made this change, there has been a considerable increase in the number of organs available," Calland said.

Patients' rights groups were skeptical.

"We don't think a private decision, which is a matter of individual conscience, should be taken by the state," said Katherine Murphy, a spokeswoman for Britain's Patients Association.

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