Some interesting facts about how organ donation rates vary from country to country

[astro]

I was reading an article on a controversy in Britain on how donated organs are allocated and found this wiki article.

Interestingly some countries presume consent unless you specify otherwise, and they have no problem in getting organs. Countries with presumed dissent (like the US) typically have huge backlogs. I’m wondering if you can even talk about presumed consent in countries without nationalized health care. Socialized medicine of some sort almost seems like a prerequisite for any kind of presumed consent setup.

There are four different legislative approaches to the donation, if the donor has not explicitly dissented. The least restrictive approach is the dissent solution, according to which the donor has to explicitly dissent to donation during his lifetime. According to the extended dissent solution, relatives may dissent in the event the potential donor has not consented.

The different legislative approaches are the main reason that countries like Spain (27 donors per million inhabitants) or Austria (24 donors per million inhabitants) have higher donor rates than Germany (13 donors) or Greece (6 donors). In most countries with the dissent solutions, there is no waiting list for donations, or the list is short, while most countries with consent solutions have substantial organ shortages. The reason for this is that, in both situations, most people do not explicitly state their wishes. Thus, in a country requiring dissent, most people will not have dissented, while in a country requiring consent, most people will not have consented.

[Gukumatz]

That’s very intersting. I’m a bit surprised to see Presumed Assent exists, actually. As far as I know, my organs weren’t up for grabs until I got my Donor Card back in 2006. I kind of wish they were, though. It’d be miserable if I lay whole in my grave, knowing some poor kid would’ve lived with my kidney or heart, but the doctors left me alone since I hadn’t crossed the fairly large treshhold of actually reporting to a hospital, get bloodworks done and sign a donor form.

If I was to choose, I’d prefer Presumed Assent. But, of course, I can see why others would not.