A Scottish newspaper is campaigning to change the law surrounding organ donation to an ‘opt out’ system, instead of people having to register as a donor.
The Glasgow based Evening Times launched its Opt for Life campaign in October and support has been growing for it ever since with backing from the British Medical Association, Kidney Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.
The aim of the campaign is to make organ donation the norm through proposing changes to Scottish law so that everyone will become a organ donor without having to register unless they choose to opt out.
In an opinion piece in the Times editor Tony Carlin said the law needed to be changed because ‘too many people were living with the spectre of death on their shoulders as they wait for the organ transplant which could give them hope.’
Said Tony: “Too many families watch a loved one slowly dying as they wait for the phone call which could change everything.
“Too many others will wonder if a lost one could have given another family the gift of life if only doctors had been able to act quicker.
“And, even apart from these very human and personal arguments there is the more hard-headed economic argument – organ transplants are more cost-effective treatments than options such as dialysis.
“That’s why the Evening Times wants a change in the law to make organ donation the norm.
“Rather than having to register to donate, it would be more effective to reverse the rules and create a register for those who wish to opt-out. Such a change would make non-donation the exception.
“That does not mean that the concerns of those who do not want their organs donated should not have their needs addressed. It is absolutely essential that those who wish to opt out of donating have an easy, accessible and universal means of doing so.”
He added that although the Scottish government had done an excellent job in changing rules and regulations so that more people had become donors, more were still needed.
Said Tony: “The Evening Times will also use this exercise to persuade more people to register as donors until the legislation is changed to opt-out.”
The newspaper hopes to get 10,000 signatures on a petition in support of the campaign which has also been backed by a number of celebrities including Lorraine Kelly and a number of politicians, including 70pc of Glasgow councillors.
Here’s a campaign that might actually achieve something. The ET is not the first to suggest such a switch but the idea deserves to be rolled out across the country.
I’d go even further. If you opt out, you don’t qualify to receive any organs! I appreciate it’s a bit harsh but I think it would work wonders for the in-crowd who are dying because of the lack of organs.
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