Table of Contents
What's going on since today?
The Human Organization Act of 2024 presents the presumption that your organs can be used for donations after you die.
Previously, people had to actively opt-in to the process. The estimates are currently changing, with adults in the excluded group being deemed to have agreed to donate unless they actively opt out.
If anyone does not want to give, you should be aware of this through the National Organ Donation Opt-Out Register.
Even if the deceased person is not in the opt-out register, their immediate family will continue to be contacted to seek consent. The HSE says those who register for opt-out will register as “respectful of hope” and their families will not approach post-mortem issues.
Excluded from this change are children under the age of 18, those who normally do not live in Ireland or have not lived in Ireland for less than a year, and those who may not have the ability to decide to opt out of organ donation.
What is the process of organ donation?
If you do not opt out, you are presumed to have opted in to the process. In that case, contact your near relatives to obtain permission to use one of the organs for transplantation.
You cannot opt out of donations of related organs. For example, you cannot say that you are happy to donate your kidneys rather than your lungs after death.
The organs considered to be covered by this act are the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys.
The Act provides for directive altruistic donations by adults only with additional protection and safeguards for donors. This covers organ donations to people unknown to donors.
[ Waiting for an organ donor: ‘It was the beginning of the hardest chapter in our family’s life’Opens in new window ]
The law prohibits pressure on living donors. Prohibit payments or rewards for donating organs, tissues, or cells.
The law also provides a framework for donation while living, and will, for the first time, provides a way for people to donate their kidneys to people who personally donate whether they want or not.
Why is this law being brought?
Similar laws are already in place in the UK and many other EU countries. Ireland was an outlier if it had no such law.
According to the HSE, Ireland has hundreds on the waiting list for organ transplants. Dr. Brian O'Brien, National Director of Organ Donation Transplants for HSE, said not everyone who dies is a potential organ donor. Donors must be in hospitals and in life support aircraft.
All donated organs can go to those in need of a transplant.
“Consent is at the heart of this change,” he says. “When someone dies, families must agree to donate their organs. It's important to let their family and friends know about their organ donation decisions.
What differences do people who need organ donation?
Last year, 263 organ transplants were received from 84 deceased people and 30 living organ donors. At any time, there are 500-600 people on the port waiting list. The result of this initiative is expected to see a fall in waiting lists and save lives.
“Opto-out organ donation systems will be in line with international best practices. Organ transplantation is one of the major advancements in modern medicine,” said Dr. Colm Henry, chief clinical officer of HSE.
