Just when you thought you might take a minute out of your day to enjoy the lovely weather it is announced that the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD is coming for your liver. And your heart, kidney and anything else the State wishes to harvest from you upon your death if you have not had the time, energy, or wherewithal to opt-out from the State organ harvesting scheme. Honestly, I can’t get a minute.
It was announced on Saturday in the Irish Independent, that “a major change in the law has been agreed which would mean that when a person dies it will be automatically assumed they wish to donate their organs – unless they have indicated an objection during their lifetime. The soft opt-out will come into effect on June 17 and it is expected to increase the donor pool of organs for over 600 people on the transplant list.”
Consent for organ donation will be “deemed” unless the person has, while alive, registered their wish not to become an organ donor after death. Deemed consent. There is nothing more pernicious than the State ‘deeming your consent’ to having your organs removed upon death without you ever having given any consent. They just ‘deem’ that you have consented despite there being no evidence for it. They deem it – just like they ‘deemed’ you consented to all those IPAS centres going up around the country.
Families will still continue to be part of the organ donation process. Oh, well that is reassuring. One wonders what will happen if there is a dispute between a family, who has just lost a family member usually in very traumatic, sudden circumstances such as a car accident, and the surgeons, standing there knife at the ready.
This is a terrible situation to put in a just bereaved family and the most vulnerable time in their lives. They must decide whether to allow the organs of their nearest and dearest be taken even if they knew their loved one would not consent but never got around to jumping whatever hoops the government will put in front of us all in order to opt-out. The devastated family must weigh this all up, as well as sign the paperwork, before the body is even cold. (Their loved one is on life support.) There were no details of how you can opt-out of this State appropriation of your body in the article – unsurprisingly.
If a person decides to donate his or her organs after death, this is a noble and virtuous decision. The act of charity is based upon the fact that donation is voluntarily chosen and consented to. I have carried a donor card in the past. However, this attempt by this government to transform every person in Ireland into a potential organ donor, without anyone doing anything to indicate that this is what they want, is a gross abuse of State power.
Ultimately families will want a final say when it comes to donating the organs of their loved one who is ‘deemed’ dead. If the donor has made their feelings clear they wanted to donate I do not anticipate a problem. But most of us will not have made it clear, and many will have said they do not wish to donate but have not gone through ‘life admin’ of opting out. So what is the nurse or doctor to do? Override the families wishes, at their most vulnerable time?
Will the doctors say sorry but Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said these organs belong to the State now, so move out of my way. The Minister wants to make organ donation “the norm” in Ireland. But it isn’t the norm and nor should it be. It is an altruistic and charitable action to donate organs upon your death – that is the entire point. Is the bereaved family to be berated and then ignored should they object to donation? This is unconscionable.
The changes are in Part 2 of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024 and provides for the first time, national legislative framework for donation and transplantation services in Ireland.
This system of the State harvesting your organs without your explicit consent has been brought in in most parts of the UK. It was introduced in Wales in 2015 then adopted by Jersey (2019), England (2020) and Scotland (2021). It is difficult to control for the impact of the pandemic but “deemed consent” has not resulted in an increase in donations. In fact according to this piece “consent rates for organ donation in England have dropped since the law came into effect, from 67% in 2019 to 61% in 2023. The same has happened in Wales where donation rates have reduced from 63% to 60.5%, and in Scotland where rates have dropped from 63.6% to 56.3%.”
There is no evidence that “deemed consent” will increase donation and ‘save lives” – a slogan you will be hit over the head with should you challenge this unethical and immoral legal change. What it will do is further erode trust between the State and the citizen and seriously damage trust in the health system.
And what of the patient waiting for an organ donation? Could he sue the State if he knows there is a suitable donation waiting, there was no opt-out but the health professionals respected the wishes of the family and did not harvest the organs? Another ethical dilemma not legislated for.
Finally, given all the scandals over the years in the Irish healthcare system such as unnecessary hip surgery being performed on children being the latest, do you really trust politicians or indeed doctors with your decision to donate organs upon death?
This is a system that allowed doctor Michael Neary, consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist consultant, remove the wombs of 129 women and went unchallenged for 25 years in Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda. Or what of the unauthorised use of implants in spinal surgery on children in children’s hospitals?
Only yesterday in the Sunday Times it was reported that “Parents demand answers over stomach devices inserted into children’s bladders. Children’s Health Ireland in Dublin is alleged to have inserted gastrostomy buttons in at least five children against the advice of the manufacturer.” At least five children being treated by Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) in Dublin are alleged to have had gastrostomy buttons, devices used to deliver nutrients and medication to the stomach, inserted into their bladders for a prolonged period of time, in some cases for years, without prior consent from their parents.
At the heart of all these scandals is the issue of consent. Wombs of women were removed without their consent. Implants were inserted into children requiring spinal surgery without parental consent and now it looks like other devices were inserted into children without proper consent.
Yet here is the State “deeming” us to have consented to having our organs harvested upon death, without explicit consent. A legal and legislative fiction if you will.
If you want to trust these people with your “deemed consent organ harvesting system” I say good luck. But I advise caution.