Health
10 euro fine for missing an organ donation decision?
A Styrofoam container for transporting organs intended for transplantation. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
In Germany, far fewer organs are donated than are needed by the terminally ill. A new suggestion from CSU expert Pilsinger aims to get everyone to explain themselves.
In view of the shortage of donor organs in Germany, the CSU health politician suggests Stephan Pilsinger proposes an obligation to enter the attitude towards organ donation in the planned organ donation register.
“Insured persons who do not comply with this request despite sufficient notice should pay an additional health insurance contribution of 10 euros per month until entry in the register has been made,” said Pilsinger in a letter to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). The letter was available to the German Press Agency in Berlin, and the Editorial Network Germany (RND) first reported on it.
The establishment of an organ donation register was decided in 2020. After some delays, it is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024. Final test runs should be completed by the end of February or beginning of March, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health said. In the register you should be able to save declarations about your willingness to donate online. All citizens should be addressed directly about the issue at least every ten years.
Cash registers are supposed to encourage people
Pilsinger suggested that in the future all health insurance companies should ask all their insured persons twice in writing to document their wishes. In addition to your willingness and a no to organ donation, you should also be able to enter “I can’t decide”. Pilsinger justified this with the fact that “there are people who cannot decide for or against organ donation because they cannot grasp the dimension of this decision based on their cognitive ability or because they are psychologically unable to make a self-determined decision meet”.
8,400 sick people are waiting for organs
According to Pilsinger’s ideas, entry in the register should not only be possible with health insurance companies, but also with pharmacies, doctors and dentists and, for example, online at home.
According to the German Organ Transplantation Foundation, around 8,400 people in Germany are currently waiting for one or more organs. Last year, 965 people donated one or more organs after their death, 96 more than the year before.
DSO