10 August 2014
Presumed Consent: What happens to your body after you die?
The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) of the Methodist Church in
Britain, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed
Church has produced a free resource on the ethics of organ donation
ahead of a change in the law in Wales. The resource is designed to
help people think through questions around "presumed consent",
which will become legal in Wales from December 2015.
The free guide is entitled "Sharing the gift of life?" and is
available to download from the JPIT
website. It includes arguments, concerns and issues around
organ donation, the rights and concerns of patients, personal
experiences as well as a discussion on whether there is a
distinctly Christian way of seeing the body. People are invited to
use it for personal reflection or to support a group
discussion.
James North, policy officer for the Methodist Church in Britain,
said: "Presumed consent raises many questions, both for Christians
and wider society. What do we understand by donating our organs or
those of people we love? Will presumed consent increase or decrease
organs available for donation? Who has the greater moral say - the
family of the organ donor or the person needing the organs? The
resource has been prepared to help people think through some of
these questions before presumed consent comes into effect in Wales
in 2015 or is discussed more widely through the rest of the
UK."
In July 2013, the Welsh Assembly voted in favour of "presumed
consent" for organ transplantation. Under this legislation, unless
people explicitly opt out, they are regarded as having given
consent to their organs being available for transplantation. This
is a change from an opt-in to an opt-out system of organ donation.
Northern Ireland has already held a consultation on presumed
consent and Scotland is currently consulting on it. It is possible
that similar proposals will be debated in England and that Bills to
introduce presumed consent will be introduced in the rest of the UK
, following Wales' lead.
According to
NHS Organ Donation statistics, from 1 April 2012 to 31 March
2013, 1,160 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver
or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney or liver/pancreas transplant.
The statistics also showed that 3,052 patients' lives were improved
by a kidney or pancreas transplant, and 3,697 people had their
sight restored through a cornea transplant. Around 1,000 people a
year (almost three a day) will die waiting as there are not enough
organs available.
James North added: "The Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed
Churches are strongly in favour of organ donation but don't have a
position on presumed consent. The debate in Wales has shown that
many in our Churches find presumed consent an uneasy principle.
Churches have an important role in supporting donors, recipients of
organs, and their families, both pastorally and publically.
"Sharing the gift of life" is intended to help Christians
participate in the national discussion around presumed consent, so
that the wonder of organ donation can be fulfilled in our
society."