EDITORIAL – Under the knife: Donation policy needs surgery

British prime minister Gordon Brown called Sunday to take the United Kingdom’s organ donation… British prime minister Gordon Brown called Sunday to take the United Kingdom’s organ donation policy under the knife, in an effort to increase the country’s low levels of organ donation.

Currently, Britain’s organ donation policy operates under an “opt in” policy. Under this policy, citizens aren’t considered organ donors unless they make consent known, by registering for and carrying an organ donor card or receiving consent from a patient’s family. Brown’s call is, essentially, to flip the policy from opt in to “opt out.” This system would presume consent unless a person explicitly registers his or her disapproval.

Similar systems have been implemented in Spain and Sweden, with varying results.

Since the system was implemented in Spain, there has been a consistent increase in the number of organs available, but in Sweden, organ donation levels are nearly as low as Britain’s, according to the Associated Press.

While British government officials have supported Brown’s proposal, patient’s rights groups have been skeptical of implementing an opt out system, claiming that the decision to donate one’s organs should never become a matter of state.

The merits of this system, from both an ethical and logistical perspective, can be difficult to translate to U.S. law because most American adults carry driver’s licenses or state issued IDs that designate their organ donor status.

While we still have to “volunteer” to become an organ donor, it doesn’t require filling out or mailing a supplemental form. We only have to answer one question: yes or no.

With this system in mind, changing from opt in to opt out would have little difference in the United States.

People with licenses without the organ donor designation might as well have “not organ donor” stamped on their licenses because they answered the question and made the decision to withhold organ donor status.

That’s not to say that our country’s organ donation is perfect.

In fact, it’s far from it. Currently, family members can override a person’s decision to donate his organs, a loophole that, if mended, could save thousands of lives.

But increasing the rate of organ donations could be even easier than legislating stiffer restrictions, which could take years and millions of dollars in lobbying efforts from both sides of the issue.

Rather than alter our current system, our government should institute a national ad campaign to promote organ donation.

It’s an unfortunate fact that many people choose not to become an organ donor because they just aren’t aware of the facts, the most important of those being the number of Americans currently sitting on waiting lists, waiting to receive a transplant.

Many Americans are also woefully misinformed of the details of organ donation, with urban legends perpetuating the fear that doctors would remove a person’s organs before he was declared dead.

If our government instituted an ad campaign, it might raise the rate of organ donation in our country. It might not.

But, at the very least, Americans will know all of the facts when they choose whether to become an organ donor.