Current News
Brown's Presumed Consent Organ Scheme Condemned by Prominent U.K. Figures
LONDON, January 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Numerous prominent voices in the UK are strongly objecting to the idea, endorsed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to have every British citizen automatically regarded as an organ donor through a "presumed consent" scheme.
Brown promoted the scheme in an op ed piece this week in the Daily Telegraph. The scheme, as Brown explained, would see all British citizens being regarded as potential organ banks unless they go through an official process of opting out. Brown's suggestion follows recommendations from chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson, who made the recommendation for presumed consent in his annual report last July.
Britons seem to prefer organ donation as a theory, while not widely supporting it in practice. Although polls show 90 per cent support for organ donation, only 25 per cent of the total population is on the NHS Organ Donor Register. In 40 per cent of cases relatives of deceased persons refuse consent for organs to be donated.
