New Bill in pipeline as 600 await transplant

DONOR DEBATE:Those who don't opt to sign over their bodies to medical science can alternatively choose to donate their organs in the event of their death.

Kidney, heart, lung, liver, pancreas, small bowel, corneas, heart valves or skin can be transplanted to someone who needs them to save or improve the quality of his or her life.

Currently in Ireland, anyone who wishes to donate an organ must carry an organ-donor card, or tick the appropriate boxes on the back of his or her driving licence.

Earlier this month, Senator Feargal Quinn introduced a Human Organs and Body Tissue Bill, which has opened the debate on whether Ireland should change its current "opt-in" policy to an "opt-out" model, also known as one of "presumed consent". This latter model is used in a number of countries, including Spain, where donor rates are 60 per cent higher than those in Ireland.

Under the opt-out model, potential donors are presumed to have consented to give their organs unless they or their relatives have specifically indicated otherwise. As in the current system, families would still be consulted and could still veto any donation.

The Government is also working on its own Bill to regulate the removal, retention, storage, use and disposal of human tissue from the deceased. It will also deal with the issue of consent for the use of donated tissue from both living and deceased people for the purposes of transplantation and research.

At the hearing into Quinn's proposed Bill, Minister of State John Moloney said various models for organ donation are being examined through a process of public consultation, although the first draft of the Government Bill is to be prepared on the basis of the opt-in system.

According to recently published statistics, Ireland ranks seventh in Europe for organ donations, with 21 donors per million of population, or 88 donors, last year. Despite this, there is still a shortfall in the number of organs available for transplantation, with some 600 patients in Ireland currently waiting for transplants.