Presumed Consent

Ellie Lacey was diagnosed with unexplained liver failure in 2016, and her condition became so severe that she required a liver transplant in order to survive. As luck would have it, after looking through the worldwide database, the hospital found a match for her and was able to save her life. The reason I'm writing this article is because last year, 21 families did not give their consent for their organs to be donated when they were necessary to save someone's life. Had they consented, they could have saved a large number of lives.

Wales is unique in that they have a system for organ donation called "Presumed Consent" which states that any child born in Wales, is automatically put onto the organ donor list and if you want to be taken off the list, you need to opt out (when you are an adult). This is the opposite of the system in motion in the rest of the UK, whereby if you want to opt into the organ donor list, you need to register to be added onto it. Herein lies the problem; Wales has approximately 1.2 million people on the organ donor list, and England have 19.8 million. These numbers are misleading however, for they give the illusion that the presumed consent system is less effective. There are 3 million people living in Wales and 66.5 million people living in England. Percentage-wise, Wales is ahead by 13 (Wales = 40%, England 29.7%). If the Uk had a 40% subscription rate as Wales, there would be 26.6 million people on the organ donor registry. in England alone. That would be another 6.8 million people on the registry, greatly increasing the number of donors available and greatly increasing the chance of survival of people needing an organ transplant.

It's clear to see that presumed consent works, and that it if we want people to actually survive major organ failures, then this needs to be implemented soon. Fortunately, chief medical staff in Wales have set up consultations with those of the rest of the UK, and the hope in doing so is to convince the rest of the UK nations to adopt the presumed consent system for the safe-keep of future generations. With luck, and a good argument, we will see this being implemented in the near future.

Thank you for reading this article, I hope that you found it interesting and that you discuss it with friends and family to get their opinions on the matter. This has been Timothy K. Bosse, wishing you a happy, organ failure-free day!

Citations:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-42652382
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/supporting-my-decision/organ-donor-card/
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/supporting-my-decision/statistics-about-organ-donation/
https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets/1343/annual_stats.pdf


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PTSD - A Psychodynamic Explanation

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder which you may develop after being involved in, or witnessing, traumatic events. The condition was first recognised in war veterans and has been known by a variety of names, such as 'shell shock'. PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event, or it can occur weeks, months or even years later. Its estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience, but it's not clear exactly why some people develop the condition and others do not. There are many theories that could be used to explain this condition. Psychodynamic approaches to PTSD focus on a number of different factors that may influence or cause PTSD symptoms, such as early childhood experiences, current relationships and the things people do to protect themselves from upsetting thoughts and feelings that are the result of experiencing a traumatic event. The psychodynamic approach focuses mainly...
Read more

Disparities in Global Eye Care

Vision is one of our most precious possessions. Multiple polls globally show that most people are more fearful of becoming blind than losing any other sense. (1,2) With sight being such a valuable asset, one would assume that eyecare is at the forefront of medical services across the world. Living in the developed world, we perhaps take for granted the simple and yet crucial services available to us such as regular eye tests, glasses, contact lenses and high-quality ophthalmic care - most of which can be accessed for free or at a subsidised price. However, in many parts of the world this is not the case. 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, with 90% being from developing countries. (3) In China, for example, levels of blindness are increasing each year, however critically, rates of blindness have been reported at up to 4 times higher in the developing world as compared to more economically developed countries (4, 5). This is particularly worrying given that around 80% of...
Read more

Do Contact Lenses Really “Support Your Vision”?

Image
Contact lenses have been frequently used as an alternative to glasses. Compared to the heavy-framed glasses in front of one’s eyes (optic glasses), thin plastic discs on the eye (contact lenses) help correct refractive errors in both myopic and hypermetropic users. The lens’ shape and power can be tailored to the user’s sight. A concave lens can be used to decrease myopia by reducing light refraction and increasing focal length so that the image is formed on the retina (1)  (Figure 1). Alternatively, a convex lens can be used to limit hypermetropia in an opposing mechanism to concave lenses (1) (Figure 1). Figure 1, An illustration of myopia and hyperopia and how adding lens of different shapes in front of the eye can be used to alter the refraction of light and correct each impairment in vision (10) Besides supporting sight, which both types of lenses can do, contact lenses confer some advantages that make them preferable to glasses. Unlike glasses, contact lenses are less li...
Read more