ORGAN DONATION : PRESUMED CONSENT IS WRONG !

I have mixed feelings about organ donation but of one think I am certain. Whether or not one's organs are offered for transplantation after death is a personal matter and nothing to do with the government.

It's reported today that the Department of Health is launching a consultation designed to measure opinion on a proposal to change the current system of opting in, to one of 'presumed consent', that is opting out. Such a change would mean that a person's organs - heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, eyes, pancreas, bowel and who knows what else - would automatically be considered available for transplantation unless that person had specifically and officially registered that they did NOT consent. To me, this is utterly wrong and should not happen.

By announcing the consultation, the government has effectively said that it intends to go ahead with such a scheme. They are well aware that many medical and research organisations will support the proposal and that very few members of the public will have the slightest idea about the fact of the consultation, let alone knowing how to go about lodging any objections. Essentially, government consultations do nothing more than pay lip service to the democratic process, the decision to proceed having already been made in closed door sessions with interested parties and pressure groups.

My body belongs to me and not to the state. When I die, what happens to it is up to me and my family or friends, not the government and certainly not to doctors greedy to carry out all manner of interventions for little other reason than that they can. I have never quite made up my mind regarding whether or not I would consent to my organs being used, but I have now. 'Presumed consent' has no place in a democracy; what will I be 'presumed' to have consented to next ? Once the government, any government, introduces the idea that it can do whatever the people have not specifically objected to, democracy is dead.

The day after the 'opt-out' register is opened, my name will be on it, not because I necessarily oppose the use of my organs but because I will not willingly surrender control of my life or body to any government.