Organ donation should be compulsory - professor

by Annelie Wressmark

May 7, 2008

ORGAN donation should be made compulsory says the chair of WA’s main kidney transplant service.

“Organ donation registration should be like voting,” Associate Professor Luc Delriviere told eMU news. “Voting is compulsory, why shouldn’t registration be?”

In WA, 646,740 people, or 41 per cent of eligible folk over 16 years old, are registered to donate their organs. In terms of percentage, this makes the state fourth behind NSW with 53 per cent, South Australia with 51 per cent and Tasmania with 48 per cent.

“Organ donation is low because people are not made to do it,” Prof Delriviere said.

Donate West, is another agency involved in organ and tissue donation. Their communication officer Ilinka Klimeska said the number of organs that could be donated was actually very small.

“It’s only if the patient dies of brain death which is the criterion in WA,” she said. “That is why we encourage more people to register.

“Everyone who dies cannot be a donor.”

Basing donation on Cardiac death, as well as the current brain death criterion, could be a new way to raise organ donations in WA says Prof Delriviere.

Cardiac death is when a person is not brain dead, but 94 per cent of the brain is destroyed. When treatment is withdrawn, the patient falls into cardiac arrest. When the patient is declared dead, the organs can be donated.

A cardiac death law is currently waiting to be passed in WA, despite having already been implemented in all other Australian states.

“There are currently 250 people waiting for a kidney transplant and the waiting can be up to three years,” Prof Delriviere said. “Kidney transplants can be delayed because of the dialysis.

“For liver transplant, the waiting is six to nine months wait and there needs to be evidence they will die within one year.”

A ‘Don’t Waste Your Wish’ media campaign occurred in February to encourage sandgropers to sign up for organ and tissue donation, and to let their family know. The campaign will start again on may 11 and run for three weeks.

“The Don’t Waste Your Wish campaign is a good thing to bring awareness, but at the same time people should receive brochures and more information on how to go about it,” Prof Delriviere said.

Even if you register for organ donation, it’s important to talk to your family so they’re aware of your wishes.

“We’ve had some problems of organ donations being refused by families, because they don’t know their relative’s wish to donate or not,” Professor Delriviere said. “It’s hard for the families to make that decision.”