Campaigners seek online registry for organ donors

Would-be organ donors should be able to use an online list to detail what they want offered for transplant on their death, experts have claimed.

Chiefs from Ireland’s top organ donation organisations also called for specialist staff to be appointed in hospitals to deal with families considering donating their loved one’s organs.

Irish Donor Network chief executive Philip Watts urged the Government to enact a “soft opt-out system” for donors and to introduce infrastructure to support this.

“How are people going to opt out if you don’t have a national organ donation registry? You need to have a website so they can opt in, opt out and so on,” Mr Watts said.

“And also, give them a menu of organs they want to donate. Some people may be happy to donate their kidneys but may not want to donate their lungs.”

Irish Kidney Association chief executive Mark Murphy and chair Martin Doody, and Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association chair Brendan Gilligan also called for a national organ donor registry.

“We need an online registry so people don’t have to carry a card,” Mr Murphy said.

Mr Murphy said the card would remain as a symbol but an electronic version was needed.

“The public demand it,” he said. “The donor card 35 years ago was probably the only card in your wallet. Now we are swamped with cards. Its day is coming to an end.”

Mr Murphy said he believed the infrastructure around donation was more important than the issue of consent.

He pointed out that organ donation in Britain had increased by 50% over five years.

“They did not alter their consent system; they changed their clinical practices as we are suggesting that we should do,” he said.

According to Mr Murphy, as many as 10 people die every day due to a lack of donated organs.

Donor rates in Ireland currently stand at around 20 per every million.

TDs and senators from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children grilled the experts on their thoughts on government plans to enact a soft opt-out system for organ donors.

Currently, people must opt in as donors by carrying organ donor cards.

Under the proposed system, families will be approached on the presumption their loved ones wish to donate, but offered the option to refuse.

The experts said a national organ donation registry was vital, which would support an individual’s strong desire to “leave the legacy of life”.

“If people are asked to put their name on a registry they will,” Mr Doody said.

“I think it’s a very strong endorsement where you go to a family and say it’s not a case your loved one didn’t opt out, they actually took the time to go and put their name on a registry. That’s where our resources should be going.”

Phyllis Cunningham, senior transplant coordinator with the National Organ Procurement Service, said that in 1999, there was an average of 100 patients waiting for a kidney transplant and 145 such transplants took place.

“Today there are over 600 people on that waiting list and, at best, we expect to achieve 180 renal transplants by the end of the year,” she said.

Ms Cunningham said education and legislation in the area of organ transplantation was not enough, more resources were needed to deal with the potential increase in the service.

Organ donor campaigner and former Derry footballer Joe Brolly, who donated one of his kidneys to a friend, said he favoured a ‘soft opt out’ system where everyone was automatically considered to be a donor unless a family member objected.