New UK Law Mandates Organ Donation by Default Unless Explicit Opt-Out (2020)

New? Law came into effect on 20 May 2020 and received royal on 15 March 2019. Title of the post doesn&#x27;t even reflect that of the link.<p>Want more info on the subject including a brief reason as to why visit (Spoiler: not enough donors) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.organdonation.nhs.uk&#x2F;helping-you-to-decide&#x2F;about-organ-donation&#x2F;faq&#x2F;what-is-the-opt-out-system&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.organdonation.nhs.uk&#x2F;helping-you-to-decide&#x2F;about...</a><p>The UK has been trying to push people more into being donors for a while. Back in 2011 (iirc) they added questions about your status as an organ donor to the driving license application. As the UK has about 75% of the adult population holding full licenses its was a good way of getting the question atleast asked to new drivers.<p>Also<p>&gt; Will you automatically take my organs if I don&#x27;t opt out?<p>&gt; No. Your family would always be involved before donation takes place, so it is really important that you choose whether you want to be a donor and discuss what you want to happen with your family, so your decision is clear and they can have peace of mind knowing that your decision is being honoured.<p>EDIT: Also this is law in England. Wales has had a similar opt-out system in place since 2015 (Not checked Scotland or Northern Ireland)

Good! organ donations save lives,restore vision to the blind, and help burn victims, and this lets people who don&#x27;t have strong opinions on what happens to their body help other people, while still letting those who have strong opinions against organ donation opt out.

I would have supported a law like this, back in Italy, although they don’t really need it (it’s already in the top-3 European countries for number of transplants). I am not very keen on it here in UK. That’s because the medical profession here stinks of massive classism, and there have been instances of abuses like <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Alder_Hey_organs_scandal" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Alder_Hey_organs_scandal</a> and <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-50836324" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-50...</a> . The chances of doctors “hurrying up” families from working-class and minority backgrounds to pull the plug, for the purposes of organ harvesting, in my opinion are substantial. Already we have situations where minorities get substandard attention (likely one of the causes, for instance, of early-natal mortality in Birmingham being more than twice the national average); this risks exacerbating the problems.<p>Also, there are issues with forensics. Organ harvesting, from what I hear, is more likely to be followed by cremation than embalming, which makes it impossible to re-examine remains at a later date. Again, given the “tradition” of cover-ups that most nation-states carry, it seems like a dangerous slope.

Organ donation isn’t a hot issue where I’m from and I imagine that most people here will like such a policy, but I’m honestly surprised by the push back in this thread. Why? The honest question I want to ask is: do people think that they still own their bodies when they die?

I like the idea of opt-in by default for organ donations. However, I am curious about the results of changing the opt-out option of “you can opt-out but you cannot receive an organ donation if you choose to opt-out”-choice would fare in the real world.

If we&#x27;re concerned with getting consent, but also allegedly too many people are just forgetting to opt-in:<p>What if, before somebody gets their ID (or another process everyone goes through), we ask them &quot;do you want to be an organ donor&quot; and they have to say either say yes &#x2F; no?

Opt-out has been becoming more common throughout the world. Some countries only offer conditional opt-out.<p>In the U.S. 33% of organ donation come from motor vehicle accident. Reduced driving due to Covid put a dent on organ donation. Long term, as cars go more autonomous, vehicular related fatalities would decrease drastically.<p>The U.S will have to follow the same model.

Implicit opt in is the way to structure decisions you want the user to take. This is of course not only used for good things like this but also &quot;bad&quot; things like checkboxes that say &quot;share my data&quot; and are already filled in.

Why is it they have organ donation... But the hospital I&#x27;m guessing still charges for the harvesting, and surgery right?<p>They should then pay something to the organ donors family... Even if it&#x27;s just twice what a decent funeral costs...<p>Wife&#x27;s uncle had his eyes harvested nobody told her aunt and she had a horrible surprise at the funeral when he was highly disfigured...<p>She probably wouldn&#x27;t have cared if she&#x27;d known... But I feel like there&#x27;s a black market for organs...<p>Maybe more ppl would be okay with donation of they knew it&#x27;d help their family some.

A good cause aside, opting out of anything is a terrible practice that needs to be abolished. It’s shameful that we keep having to opt out of every facet of our lives.<p>Life is hard enough as it is, but let’s make it harder by forcing people to have to opt out of choices they never made!<p>Maybe it’s just the phrasing, but unless there is a proper shift away from a given default expectation, lots of people will be blind sided by this.

In the US, if you have a baby in the hospital, they take the placenta and sell it for the stem cells. We asked for the placenta and were told, “They took it to pathology, and really don’t like to give it back after that,” or something along those lines.<p>So organ harvesting without consent happens in the US too

I note with irony that that site doesn’t even let you opt out of “marketing” cookies.

Some people have organs no one in their right mind would want. For example: You have a genetic disorder.<p>So, I wonder how stuff like that factors in. That doesn&#x27;t appear to be addressed.

Makes sense in the UK to donate, I suppose, since your treatment is free.<p>In the US, where it is fully possible that you will simply not receive an organ if you can&#x27;t pay, I think it makes sense to also do the opposite and simply not offer an organ for transplant if it can&#x27;t be paid for. I am interested in speaking to anyone who has had experience bypassing current &quot;donation&quot; laws.

Why can&#x27;t we pay people to donate organs instead of begging or forcing them to, again?

If they want my organ, I’d ask them how much they want to pay me or my family for it. The medical industry gouges patients and derives exorbitant wealth from our “donations,” and there needs to be an equivalent exchange.<p>If my hospital bill for a single night stay is 50k, they can pay me 50k for my organ. I’m certain hospitals can pay far more than that, with the amount of insurance fraud they commit.

AFAIK, mandatory &quot;donation&quot; to government is called &quot;confiscation&quot;.

Not going to jump in with arguments on this one. But just want to mention how positively horrified I am to see all the comments here cheering organ harvesting in a democracy.