BMA Response To The Organ Donation Task Force's Report, UK

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 17 Jan 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Commenting on the initial report released by the Organ Donation Task Force, the Chairman of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee (MEC), Dr Tony Calland, applauded the report's recommendations to improve current systems for organ donation.

He said:

"Before any radical changes are made to organ donation in the UK it is imperative that existing systems are improved to deal with current demand. The BMA is fully behind the recommendations in this report, in particular the call to promote organ donation to the general public, expand the donor co-ordinators network and publicly recognise the role of donors. The BMA will be happy to work with the Task Force to raise awareness about organ donation.

"We hope that the implementation of the recommendations in this initial report will create an environment in which a move to a system of presumed consent with safeguards for organ donation could flourish. The BMA believes that moving to such a system would not only increase organ donation rates, but would make it more likely that the wishes of the deceased person would be respected. We look forward to the Task Force's second report which we understand will be released later in the year."

BMA position on organ donation attached here.

http://www.bma.org.uk

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