Organ donors

Looking for answers

There’s no doubt that Ontario, and all the provinces, could be doing far more to encourage organ donations. In 2010, there were about 4,500 Canadians on a transplant list and nearly 250 individuals died while waiting for a donor organ.

But is the answer for increasing the donor rate “presumed consent,” or effectively making everyone a potential donor unless they apply to opt out of the program?

It’s an idea that Prince Edward Island is debating and it would make all 140,000 residents potential donors — unless they formally registered not to participate.

It’s also an idea that raises serious questions about government intrusion into an area that involves both personal privacy and personal decision-making.

In fact, in 2007, an Ontario panel that was looking at ways to increase organ donations rejected a presumed consent option, concluding there was no clear evidence it actually worked, and it was “too passive a method to be a clear statement of an individual’s intent.”

The province’s organ donation agency, the Trillium Gift of Life Network, found that, of the 25 countries claiming to have a presumed consent policy, only Austria actually allows doctors to harvest organs without talking to family members.

The other 24 countries always check with families before removing the organs of a dead relative.

Greece, Luxemburg and the Slovak Republic, for instance, all have opt-out programs, yet their organ donor rates are nearly half those of Canada, according to 2002 data.

The question is how to increase the number of donors without the government directly making that decision.

Certainly, we can do better locally. Earlier this year it was reported that Windsor — along with Toronto — has the lowest organ donation registration rate in Ontario, with an average of 12 per cent of residents registering to be a donor.

In Hamilton, 25 per cent of residents have registered, while in Sudbury it’s 34 per cent.

Dr. Gary Levy, medical director of Toronto General Hospital’s multi-organ transplant program, told The Toronto Star recently said Canada has a “disorganized, dysfunctional system” that should be focusing on public awareness and outreach programs to keep donations in the spotlight and lead to better co-operation and co-ordination between hospitals and jurisdictions.

One idea from Spain would be to structure a system around a network of transplant co-ordinators who are present in all 168 of that country’s hospitals. The success of the co-ordinators is built around taking time and talking in a sensitive way to grieving families to get permission to harvest organs and help save the lives of others.

Another suggestion would be to put the information on health cards so it could be accessed at the time an individual is admitted to hospital. Yet another good idea would be to make organ donor forms readily available in every doctor’s office. Still, it is fairly easy to become a donor.

You can register at beadonor.ca or visit ServiceOntario Centres.

According to Ontario’s Trillium Gift of Life Network, one donor can save up to eight lives through organ donations and enhance the lives of 75 others through the donation of tissue.

That’s an incredible gift to give.