Tel Aviv - Israel is to implement a new law in January 2010 whereby people prepared to sign organ donor cards receive priority if in need of an organ transplant, The Lancet medical journal has reported. The law also allows for increased priority to be given to first- degree relatives of those who have signed donor cards, first-degree relatives of those who have died and donated organs, and to live donors of a kidney, liver lobe or lung lobe who have donated for as- yet-undesignated recipients.
Only 10 per cent of Israeli adults hold donor cards, a figure much lower than the more-than-30-per-cent average in many Western countries.
In addition, the Lancet pointed out, the consent rate for organ donation in Israel - defined as the proportion of actual donors out of the total number of medically eligible brain-dead donors - has consistently been 45 per cent during the past decade, far fewer than the 70 to 90 per cent consent rate in the West.
An Open Letter to Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
9 years ago
A similar deal is available in the United States from an organ donor network named LifeSharers.
ReplyDeleteIf you agree to offer your organs first to other LifeSharers members, you'll get preferred access to the organs of every other member of the network. As the LifeSharers network expands, your chances of getting an organ if you ever need one keep going up -- if you are a member. LifeSharers already has over 13,000 members.
Giving organs first to organ donors creates an incentive for non-donors to become donors. This increases the supply of organs and saves more lives. Saving the maximum number of lives should be the primary goal of our organ donation/transplantation system.
Giving organs first to organ donors also makes the system fairer. People who aren't willing to donate their own organs should go to the back of the transplant waiting list as long as there is an organ shortage.
If you want to donate your organs to other organ donors, you can join LifeSharers at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. Membership is free. There is no age limit. No one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.