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Article Title:	Concern Over Wales Introducing An Opt-out Organ Donation System
Author of reported comment:	Janet Thomas
Comment Date:	15:14 on Aug 13 2013
Comment:	The Welsh Government has confused two ideas: that express consent is the same as presumed consent because most people are willing to donate their organs after death. The key word is donate which is allied to the word gift; it cannot be presumed that everyone will be willing to give their organs. It is, of course, possible to opt out but that involves making a decision to do so and ignorance of the law, illiteracy, poor English, apathy or indolence may mean that organs will be taken without the consent of either the patient or relatives. The Government first promised a family veto as the First Minister said in The Observer in May 2010:“We have decided on soft presumed consent, where relatives can veto organ donation,….we don't want to be in a position where we are taking organs against the wishes of the family.” However, when the debate took place all amendments to convert the Bill into a soft opt-out were voted down to exclude a family veto. Spain, the world leader in organ donor rates, does not operate its presumed consent law, and its Head of Transplant Services has written in an article in the BMJ in Oct. 2010: "Advocates of presumed consent often cite the Spanish organ donation system as an example of the success of presumed consent legislation. In fact, what Spain has shown is that the highest levels of organ donation can be obtained while respecting the autonomy of the individual and family, and without presumed consent." Recently, Croatia decided to follow Spain's example and its organ donor rates have improved so that it is now vying for top place with Spain. What a pity that Wales, could not follow Spain's example of always consulting the family and improving infrastructure and training of medical personnel

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