"Presumed consent" for organ donation would risk destroying the trust that patients and their families have in doctors, a government-appointed taskforce said yesterday, unanimously rejecting a proposal which has the support of the prime minister and chief medical officer.
Gordon Brown immediately made it clear that he still supported presumed consent, which would mean that every UK citizen would be assumed to be willing to donate their organs in the event of sudden death, unless they had specifically opted out by placing their name on a register.
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It happens even in the best-run governments, though not very often. An independent committee tasked with providing an urgently-needed answer comes up with the wrong one, the answer officials didn't expect.
It happened last year on the reclassification of cannabis and again yesterday when the organ donation taskforce reported to the health secretary, Alan Johnson, on the best way to improve the UK's poor rate of organ transplants obtained from dead bodies.
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For every three people who will benefit from an organ transplant this year, a fourth will die while waiting for a match to become available. More than 7,000 will simply wait, enduring another year of painfully restricted life. Put brutally, not enough people are dying who have healthy organs that they or their families are willing to donate. Earlier this year, the government's Organ Donation Taskforce recommended improvements in the way organ donation is managed. They will be fully implemented, and in five years' time should have raised transplants by 25%.
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Advocates of a presumed consent system of organ donation are ignoring the weakness of the evidence
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Taskforce advises against shift from volunteer system, but Gordon Brown says proposal may be revisited if number of donors does not rise significantly
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Further reading and organisations related to the donation debate
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How many people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant in the UK?
At the end of March 7,655 were on the active list. Most (7,006) were waiting for a kidney; 377 were waiting for a heart and/or lungs; 259 needed a liver.
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Gordon Brown said he was still prepared to push ahead with new rules presuming people are happy to donate organs after death, despite the plans being rejected yesterday by an expert task force he appointed. The Prime Minister is backing a change in the law to assume patients have given automatic "presumed consent" for their body parts to be used after their death, unless they decide to opt out.
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Why are we asking this now?
Yesterday the Government accepted a report from a group of expert medical advisers which recommended against Britain adopting an "opt-out" system of organ donation, to boost transplant rates. Although widely trailed in advance, the decision is a surprise because an opt-out system has received vigorous backing from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Chief Medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, as well as other organisations such as the British Medical Association.
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Plans for a new opt-out system of organ donation have been shelved after experts advising the Government cast doubt on whether it would work.
Gordon Brown said he was willing to try out the recommendations of the Organ Donation Taskforce, which call for improvements to be made without a change in the law.
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Gordon Brown has refused to rule out a change in the law that may see everyone considered as a potential organ donor, despite the recommendations of his advisers yesterday.
The opt-out system of organ donation should not be introduced as it could undermine patients’ confidence in medical care, the UK Organ Donation Taskforce said.
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Daniel Harrison was a promising young rugby player whose dreams of studying Russian at university were tragically ended when he was killed in a car crash last year at the age of 17. At the Royal Bolton Hospital he is recalled for his contribution after his death: 40 people have benefited from his tissue being donated.
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Jacqui Grove wavered only once. For a fleeting second, she agonised. ''Should we be trying every single thing, anything that might produce a miracle and save Josie's life?'' she asked herself.
Before her on the table sat yet another letter from a well-meaning stranger. In it the author, who had read of Jacqui's daughter's decision to refuse further medical treatment, leave hospital and go home to her family to die, urged her to talk Josie into changing her mind, to try yet one more form of untested alternative medicine.
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Gordon Brown may force through 'presumed consent' for organ donation even after it was rejected by an independent panel of scientists.
The Prime Minister has vowed to look again at changing the law on organ donation so everyone is automatically a donor except those who 'opt out'.
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The UK has the third highest number of people registered with the Swiss suicide charity Dignitas, a BBC investigation has found.
The number of Britons on the group's list has risen to 725, behind only Switzerland and Germany, 5live found.
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Paralysed after being attacked by neo-Nazis, Noel Martin is planning a trip to Switzerland to commit suicide. Here, disabled broadcaster Liz Carr, who met Noel for a BBC Radio 5 Live report, writes an open letter urging him to think again.
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The privacy of millions of NHS patients will be critically undermined by a government plan to let medical researchers have access to personal files, the health information watchdog told the Guardian last night.
The prime minister and Department of Health want to give Britain's research institutes an advantage against overseas competitors by opening up more than 50m records, to identify patients who might be willing to take part in trials of new drugs and treatments.
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Members of the judiciary and family lawyers have warned that a government-imposed hike in the cost of taking children into care could increase the numbers in danger of suffering domestic abuse.
In May, the Ministry of Justice increased the legal fees that local authorities have to pay to bring court proceedings associated with the procedure. The cost rose dramatically from around £100 to £2,225.
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There has been pressure to change the rules on organ donation, but replacing the 'opt-in' scheme may not be the answer
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The government's policy change over 'top-up' treatment is not all it seems, writes Jon Robins
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