Doubts over ‘opt-out’ organ donation

An ‘opt-out’ system for organ donation will have very little impact, research suggests.

The Government announced plans last week to make it easier for doctors to take organs without explicit consent.

The new system means adults will have to opt-out from the register if they do not want to be donors – a dramatic change from the current opt-in system.

Ministers claimed the system of ‘presumed consent’ will save up to 700 lives a year when it is introduced in spring 2020. But a study by Queen Mary University of London suggests it will make no difference at all. The researchers said this is because the family of the deceased will still get the final say.

They said relatives often decide not to give permission for donation as they do not know what their loved one would have wanted. They do not believe the new system will change this – and critics have expressed concerns the ‘presumption’ will actually put families off. If has signed the register, 91 per cent of relatives agree to a donation. But if not, this falls to 47 per cent.

The researchers carried out three studies, looking at the US, European countries with an opt-out system, and those that are opt-in. Volunteers were asked to judge if a donor’s wish to donate was stronger under an opt-in or opt-out system.

Their findings, published in Journal of Experimental Psychology, suggest that if someone has not actively put themselves on the register the underlying system makes no difference.