Britain considers “opt-out” organ donor scheme

Britain is considering changing its organ donation system. Currently, Britons must ask to be placed on the donor list. Under proposals backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, they would automatically be on the list and would have to ask to be taken off.

“The problem we have at the moment in this country is that 90 percent of us say we agree with organ donation, but only 25 percent bother to register with the donation organisation.” said Health Minister Ben Bradshaw.

The system of ‘presumed consent’ is already practised in Spain, which has the highest proportion of donors in the world. In Britain, around 1,000 patients a year die waiting for a suitable organ.

A government report out this week calls for individual hospitals to do more to collect organs from dying patients.

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