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Transplant team holds key in donor quest

Some say "presumed consent" can solve the nation's organ shortage, but one European expert says they presume wrong.

By Andis Robeznieks, amednews staff. Sept. 16, 2002.

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A report presented at the International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Miami last month lends support to U.S. advocates of presumed consent who believe it's the best way to boost the nation's organ supply.

According to that report, the nations with the highest per capita organ donation rates in the world -- Spain, Austria, and Belgium -- all operate under presumed consent laws. The United States ranked fourth. Presumed consent assumes everyone wants to be an organ donor unless they say otherwise.

One of the loudest voices in favor of presumed consent is Dallas orthopedic surgeon Phil Berry Jr., MD, a liver transplant recipient who has now dedicated his life to raising organ donor awareness.

"When I speak about organ donation, people say 'What's the answer?' I say 'presumed consent,' " he said. "The most common cry I hear is that people's freedom will be taken away because their decisions are being made for them. But I say, 'Do we want to solve the problem or don't we?' "

Dr. Berry is on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson's Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation. He said he is working on a presumed consent report that he will present to the panel in November. Among his findings is that during the last 10 years in Belgium, only 2% of the population opted out of being an organ donor.

"They solved the problem," Dr. Berry said. "They made a commitment that waiting for organs wouldn't be a medical problem in their country, and it just bothers me that we aren't willing to make such a bold statement." [...]