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| New Bill will help save lives |
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The importance of organ donation and the need for change was highlighted recently, when MP Dr. Jackie Blue's Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill, was drawn from the Private Members ballot.
New Zealand is facing a drastic shortage of organ donors. While South Australia has 22 registered donors per one million people and the UK has 13, New Zealand has only 9, and is facing increasing demand because of advances in medical technology. At the moment, a person can only be a registered organ donor if they have a valid driver's licence. This rules out those who cannot drive or choose not to. There is no option to specify which organs a person wishes to donate, for instance, their kidneys, but not their cornea. The wishes of the donor are not binding, the process of driver licensing is itself bureaucratic and expensive, and the law is outdated. The result is that while one million people have "donor" on their licence, few organs actually make it to the people who need them.
Dr. Blue's Bill, which simplifies the process of donating organs and clarifies and updates the law, is a move long overdue. The Bill would establish a central Organ Donation Register, simplifying the process of registration. It will provide for medical professionals to respect both the wishes of the deceased, and the wishes of their surviving family. The donor may make specific requests as to the organs donated, and the use to which these organs may be put.
While many people have good reasons for refusing to donate their organs, those who do so, perform a vital function, quite literally, for their neighbours. All who volunteer to donate their heart or their lungs are giving to someone who is probably very different from them. Without knowing their specific ethnicity, religion, illness, politics or family circumstances, they volunteer to help strangers. Why? Because we are all human and human life is precious. Giving a part of one's self to help a stranger live is a selfless and admirable act.
Any measure which enables people to express their wishes in a more simple and efficient way is to be welcomed, and if the new Bill boosts the rate of organ donations, it will not only have cut red tape, it will have helped save lives.
Read the Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill (.PDF).
(To view .PDF's you will need Adobe Reader)
To read more about organ donation, visit: http://www.givelife.org.nz |
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Katie Tookey's story is on video.
Kiwis like Katie depend on 'the gift of life'.
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