Why organ donation rates remain so low

Startling figures from last year shed some light on why New Zealand’s organ donation rates are so low.

In December, 541 Kiwis were in the queue for organs. Yet donation was only discussed in 40 per cent of the 362 cases involving severely brain-damaged patients ventilated in the country’s intensive care units, official figures show.

The figures have prompted calls from the father of an organ donor for specialists and families to see the critical need to preserve another person’s life.

‘‘It’s the difference in being able to live and not live,’’ Wellington man Craig Boyes said.

His son Michael was one of 61 organ donors in New Zealand in 2016.

‘‘One of the strange things about this is we don’t as a society appreciate how much a person’s life is transformed by this. And it’s so selfish to not see and recognise that.’’

His organs saved seven lives. One year on from his death, Craig said the family still takes comfort knowing Michael’s wishes to donate his organs were fulfilled.

But 2016 Organ Donation New Zealand (ODNZ) audit figures released under the Official Information Act suggest opportunities are being missed at a dying person’s bedside.

In cases where it was discussed, 42 per cent of families agreed to donate their loved one’s organs – resulting in 61 donors.

The audit was compiled by ODNZ medical specialist Dr James Judson, who said the figures didn’t fairly represent the true number of eligible donors.

‘‘This subgroup ‘severely brain-damaged and ventilated’ includes people who will never be a suitable donor.

‘‘They go and die before there’s time to have a conversation, or they’re not brain dead, and there are some where the doctors and nurses don’t discuss it for

whatever reason.’’

Judson knew of a doctor who didn’t want to discuss organ donation with families because he was personally against it.

‘‘He would do what he could to wriggle out of it because he was just uncomfortable with it.

‘‘But [the department] would see that and his behaviour would be up for scrutiny, so he changed. And that’s how things change.’’

The figures were provided under OIA to long-time organ donation campaigner Andy Tookey, who has been battling for better donation rates for 15 years.

Tookey said specialists have told him his teenage daughter, Katie, will need a new liver in her lifetime. However, she’s not on an official waiting list.

‘‘They know what’s wrong with the system now and they’re still not fixing it.’’

Judson argued: ‘‘When we started this audit [in 2008], that figure was 40 to 50.’’

Two of the 61 donors did not end up having their organs retrieved or transplanted.

‘‘Sometimes when they open up the patient, they find the organs aren’t suitable. The kidneys can be shrivelled up.

‘‘They can have fatty liver disease [and that] can be hard to tell in advance,’’ Judson said.

Both Tookey and Hayes would like to see a nationally binding, opt-in strategy that cannot be overturned by family.

‘‘I understand ODNZ don’t really like that idea,’’ Hayes said. ‘‘But people who need organs need them. It’s too important to miss that.’’

If that doesn’t work, Tookey supports an opt-out strategy, where people would be considered donors unless they specify otherwise.

‘‘They know what’s wrong with the system now and they’re still not fixing it.’’ Donation campaigner Andy Tookey