- People should have their organs automatically removed
for transplants after they die unless they had expressed objections when
alive, according to a Bill to go before the Commons today. The 10-minute
rule Bill, supported by doctors' leaders, reaches MPs amid fears that
people
are dying needlessly because of a shortage of donors.
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- Last year, there were 6,842 people on the waiting list
for organs, and the queue is growing. Tom Watson, Labour MP for West
Bromwich
East, is proposing a change in the law to allow doctors to remove organs
from all patients over 16 unless they have opted out.
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- Currently, Britain operates a system, whereby organs
can only be removed from people who have joined the donor register or
carried
a donor card. Only 15 per cent of Britons are on the register.
-
- Mr Watson said: "A change in the law could save
hundreds of lives every year. In the last five years over a thousand people
have died while on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Others have
died without reaching the list." The Bill has won the support of 170
MPs but it is unlikely that the Government will accept it.
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- A Department of Health spokesman said the Bill was
unnecessary
because the Government was conducting a review on organ donation.
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