LAW CHANGE COULD HAVE LET 457 LIVE

Growing calls for opt-out donor rule

THERESA May is today under mounting pressure to change organ donation laws after more than 450 people died needlessly last year.

An NHS audit found 177 families said “no” to donation as they were unsure if their loved ones would have agreed.

Based on the average 2.6 transplants per donor, that could have led to 460 lifesaving operations in 2016-17.

At the same time, 457 people died while on the active transplant waiting list. This suggests if all of the transplant opportunities were taken, some, if not all, of those lives could have been saved.

Labour MP Dan Jarvis said: “The fact hundreds of people are missing out on lifesaving and life-changing organ transplants every year is a tragedy, but it is even more heartbreaking to know that this is happening because families are, at a time of huge shock and grief, unsure as to the wishes of their loved ones.”

The Mirror’s Change the Law for Life campaign is calling on the Government to ensure England follows Wales and Scotland with a law deeming all adults to have consented to donate their organs unless they opt out.

Currently, people have to “opt in” to donate organs after death by signing the NHS Organ Donor Register. Surveys show the vast majority of Brits would donate an organ after death – but fewer than half have signed up. Mr Jarvis added: “England must now move to an opt-out system. The evidence is clear – hundreds of people a year are paying a price of us not doing so.”

NHS Blood and Transplant has to remain neutral on an opt-out system but wants more people to talk to relatives about their wishes during Organ Donation Week, starting today.

Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation, said: “It’s a tragedy – hundreds of people die unnecessarily.

“If everyone who supported donation talked about it and agreed to donate, most of those lives would be saved.”

The parents of a four-year-old girl who died while waiting for a heart transplant also urged people to discuss the topic. After Aoife O’sullivan passed away in March 2016, parents Michelle and Neil decided to donate her kidneys.

Michelle, of Leigh-on-sea, Essex, said: “Neil and I take comfort from the fact Aoife has given somebody more time with their loved ones. I would say to people, ‘Put yourself in the shoes of someone waiting for a transplant.’

“If you are willing to accept an organ, you should be willing to donate the special gift of life to another family.”

More than 11,000 people have backed our petition calling for an opt-out law in England and Northern Ireland.