Contrary to what we may think, changing people’s default status from non-donor to donor cannot significantly increase organ donation rates — as long as the family is involved in the decision.
Deemed consent, or ‘opt-in,’ organ donation is a significant departure from the practices of health-care consent in Canada.
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Deemed consent organ donation means that everyone is assumed to be an organ donor unless they opt out, but assuming consent raises some ethical issues.
Eighty-five per cent of Ontarians support organ donation, but only one-third have opted in under the current system.
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Thousands of Canadians are on waiting lists for life-saving organ transplants. An opt-out organ donor system, like the one Nova Scotia is implementing, could reduce avoidable deaths and suffering.
Accepting a donor kidney with a small risk of carrying HIV or hepatitis B or C might be worth thinking about.
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Organs from gay men or injecting drug users, often rejected for transplants, could safely be used, so long as donors test negative for infections such as HIV, and hepatitis B and C.
The number of people choosing to become posthumous donors in the UK has reached 25.3m but this is still considerably lower than other countries.
A Nova Scotia woman displays the tattoo that marks her two liver transplants at the provincial legislature in Halifax in April 2019. The province’s Human Organ and Tissue Donation Act will allow Nova Scotians to donate their organs and tissue unless they opt out.
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Most Canadians support organ donation after death, but fewer than 25 per cent have registered to donate their organs. What can be done to encourage more registrations?
If the family doesn’t agree, the surgery won’t go ahead.
A parliamentary committee report recommends the Australian government investigate whether an opt-out system could help increase donation rates. But the evidence suggests it wouldn’t.
For many years, the number of transplants in China has been concealed.
Organ donation rates in the UK are at an all time low. Could this be the solution?
Despite having a higher than average rate of viable donors, Australia’s organ donation rate is lower than much of the developed world.
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Australia was once a world leader in organ donations, but today it lags much of the developed world. William Isdale speaks with Aric Bendorf about how to improve Australia's organ donation rates.
It’s time to go beyond improving the mechanisms for implementing existing laws.
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Australia’s organ donation levels are low by international standards. At least twenty countries achieve better donation rates than Australia’s 16.1 donors per million population (DPM).
Rather than changing the power dynamic between families and hospitals, we should improve our organisational practices and end-of-life care in hospitals.
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Most families want to honour their loved one’s known donation wishes. A one-in-three veto rate suggests families are encountering barriers to organ donation in the hospital.
More Australians may be able to donate or receive organs if proposed NHMRC guidelines are adopted.
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Australia has never had a great deceased organ donor rate – and it fell last year. But proposed guidelines from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) could change how donor organs are…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford