Family calls for opt-out donor card system
Dublin Coroner’s Court heard that 65-year-old Marie Simpson of Philipsburgh Avenue, Fairview, died on August 25 last year having suffered multi-organ failure and other complications arising following a liver transplant carried out five months earlier.
Ms Simpson required the transplant having reached end stage liver disease following her earlier contraction of hepatitis C through transfusion.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell agreed the chain of causation leading to her death started with the blood transfusion and recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, expressing his sympathy to Ms Simpson’s family.
The deceased’s son Peter called for a new donor registration system requiring people to opt out: “The law in this country should be amended to match more advanced countries where people are born onto the donor list to carry a donor card until they proactively take themselves off it. The apathy to carrying the card in this country costs lives on a daily basis.”
