The first day of a new year is always synonymous with change. In terms of organ donation, an amendment to the Health Law will come into force on January 1, 2017 to reaffirm the principle of presumed consent and provide more details. The objective is clear:to increase the number of organ donations, which still does not cover the needs (despite the increase in the number of donors in recent years).
The principle of presumed consent is not new. The Cavaillet law had introduced it 40 years ago, in 1976:"samples can be taken for therapeutic or scientific purposes from the corpse of a person who has not made known during his lifetime his refusal of such sample ". So much for the theory. But in practice, doctors systematically consult relatives. If the deceased did not leave any clear and precise instructions, it is up to them to decide whether or not they will be an organ donor. Unfortunately, in 2015, in a third of cases (i.e. 32.5%) doctors had to face refusals, mainly because of the position of those around them. This amendment therefore calls for clarification of its position on organ donation. If you do not want to be a donor, you will now have to specify this formally. Two solutions are available to us:register in the refusal register accessible online by attaching a copy of an identity document or make your choice in writing and entrust the document to a loved one. It will also be possible to specify if we only want to donate some of our organs and tissues by following the same procedure.
We hope that this amendment will have the desired effect!
