Sir, – Domhall Murphy (July 8th) confuses two issues which are totally unrelated. The Irish donor consent policy was in no way responsible for the unfortunate organisational problems which caused the life-changing liver transplant for Maedhbh McGivern to be so sadly aborted.
He further confuses opt-out legislation with increased donation levels, suggesting that such legislation on its own will magically increase the number of organ donations. As the recently retired president of the European Heart and Lung Transplant Federation, I am familiar with this argument.
Legislation on its own will never improve levels of organ donation. In those countries where such legislation exists, it was and is, the appointment of trained transplant co-ordinators in all hospitals which subscribe to the donor pool who made and make the difference. It is national leadership and the implementation of policies, systems and structures comparable to our European neighbours that are needed.
We remain the only European country without a full formal transplant authority or any transplant legislation. It is an area sadly ignored by successive governments, although earlier this year a new transplant office was established within the HSE on a part- time basis! I have spoken with Rafael Matesanz who is the director of ONT, the Spanish Transplant Authority, (recognised as the most successful transplant programme in the world), and leaders of other European transplant programmes and they told me that although opt-out legislation exists in their country there has never been an occasion when organs were removed for transplantation without the express permission of the next-of-kin or the family. That is the practise currently in our country.
I believe that consent is the ethical cornerstone of all medical interventions and that our current consent policy serves our country well and has done for many years. Our donor rates per million population are reasonably good by European comparisons, reflecting the generosity and ability of our citizens to make brave and heroic decisions to donate their loved ones’ organs at a time of great personal sadness and grief. We can only be humbled in the face of such compassion.
Don’t change the law, rather we must change attitudes and promote organ donation as a moral obligation. At a time when your organs are no longer of any use to you, why take them to the grave or cremate them when desperately ill people, in end-stage organ failure, or imprisoned by dialysis or 24-hour oxygen dependency are waiting on the precious gift of a transplant. We are fortunate to live in a society where as a member of the population we have an equal right to transplantation, surely that imposes an equal duty on all citizens to bear the burden of organ donation? – Yours, etc,