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France Begins Opt-Out Organ Donation (theoutline.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-moves dept.

Laura June, reporting for The Outline: France began to use a new opt-out system of organ donation on Jan. 1, making it one of a large number of European nations that now use a "presumed consent" system. This means that any adult who dies will now donate their organs by default, regardless of their survivors' wishes, unless they have signed a refusal registry in advance. The new law gets around what has historically been a stumbling block for organ donation: the surviving families of the deceased. A survey in France previously showed that while up to 80 percent of the population was in favor of donating their own organs, about 40 percent of families refuse when pressed to make the choice.

6 of 445 comments (clear)

  1. NIMBY in full effect by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure I'm for donations, they might save my life!

    But I'd want to receive, not give!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:NIMBY in full effect by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think they should be tied together. Unless you have some sort actual medical reason as to why you should not be an organ donor (HIV infection, ect.) opting out should put you on the bottom of the donation list should you need it. If you contribute to the system, you get priority if you need the system. Otherwise, you go to the back of the line. Don't expect to receive if you're not willing to give.

      I just don't get the mentality of people who refuse organ donation. If you're dead, you're dead, why take other people with you? It's one last act of good that could save lives and, seeing as how you're never going to use them again, costs you absolutely nothing. How big of a prick do you have to be to look at that proposition and reject it?

    2. Re:NIMBY in full effect by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I just don't get the mentality of people who refuse organ donation. If you're dead, you're dead, why take other people with you?

      The concern is not "If you're dead". The concern is, If i'm in critical condition, the hospital that knows I'm a potential organ donor
      may treat me differently in a manner that makes me less likely to survive, Or they may prematurely declare me dead out of concern for
      the organs they could get from me to save someone else..... perhaps someone they deem "More worthy" of being saved.

    3. Re:NIMBY in full effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which is an issue that an opt out system mitigates nicely. The more donors there are, the less likelihood of unethical behavior.

  2. Re:Blatant violation of the individual's rights by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can't call organs a fee when they have zero value to the donor, on account of the donor being dead. It's just taking from them something that they no longer have any use for, and giving it to someone who has a very dire need.

    If you have the ability to save the life of one person, possibly more, and you refuse to do so for no other reason than sentimental attachment or superstition, then you bear responsibility for the consequences of this inaction. So I am entirely wiling to see any number of corpses mangled in order to benefit those still alive. At the end of the day, they are just bags of spare parts.

  3. Not harvesting by netean · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any discussion about this topic should NOT talk about organ "Harvesting". It is NOT harvesting, it's recycling and reusing something that you no longer have any need of.