Make organ donation in Netherlands compulsory

[Henia 11]

Commission advising the health minister is rooting for a system where all individuals are automatically considered donors unless stated otherwise.

12 June 2008

THE NETHERLANDS - The commission that advises Minister for Health Ab Klink on organ donation says it would like a system where all individuals are automatically considered donors.

Those who do not want their organs to be used after their death should, it said, make a specific statement to that effect. The chair of the commission, Jan Terlouw, also predicted that in five years' time, there will be an increase of between 25 to 50 percent in the number of organ donations.

But this week, a leak revealed that the minister sees no advantages in such an approach. He believes the present system, in which individuals choose to become donors, should remain in force. In cases where people have not made their wishes about donation clear, the choice should be left up to their relatives.

The commission calls this a "spurious solution".

Terlouw planned to present the commission's findings to the health minister on Wednesday afternoon, but in the end delivered them only to the press. Given their differences of opinion, he said, a presentation to the minister would have been a farce.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Given the scarcity of transplants - an opt-out scheme is probably the way to go.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I doubt anyone would want my organs. I think I have been blacklisted. I have tried to have the organ donor certification sticker put on my driver's license several times, but no effect.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

They should probably think about doing that here - to stifle the black market in organ transplants.

Although I imagine the very idea would give the religious establishment another excuse to start frothing at the mouth...

[Henia 11]

I doubt anyone would want my organs. I think I have been blacklisted. I have tried to have the organ donor certification sticker put on my driver's license several times, but no effect.

[pedroh 21]

be an organ doner, like McLovin

Edited June 12, 2008 by pedroh

[Scott & Lai 12]

I can't help thinking of the "Live organ donor" scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life when I read this