‘Opt-out’ organ donation bid

LAWS presuming a person’s willingness to donate their organs when they die are being considered as part of a consultation by the Department of Health.

The “opt-out” system or “law of presumed consent” would mean a person would have to specifically state they do not want to donate their organs for use in transplants when they die. Otherwise, the state will automatically presume their willingness to donate.

This differs from the current “opt-in” system where people state their consent by carrying an organ donor card.

The Government yesterday agreed the general scheme of the Human Tissue Bill which will legislate in the area of organ donation, postmortem practices and the retention, storage and use of human organs by hospitals.

The legislation was recommended in the report from the Madden Inquiry published two years ago into the retention of children’s organs.

The inquiry was carried out by Dr Deirdre Madden after it emerged that the pituitary glands of 14,000 deceased children were removed by Irish hospitals without the agreement of parents, between 1976 and 1998. Some of these glands were sold by a pathologist to a pharmaceutical company in Britain for as little as €1.50 each.

Legislation agreed at yesterday’s cabinet meeting will regulate “the removal, retention, storage, use and disposal of tissue of the deceased,” according to a spokesperson for the Health Minister, Mary Harney.