Although a similar proposal failed in 2020, a group of MPs is now again pushing for the opt-out rule for organ donation. And this time they are confident that there could be a majority.
It is a truth with bitter consequences: only a few people in Germany want to donate organs. Last year, just under 1,000 did. But currently, around 8,400 patients are waiting for a donor organ.
“The truth is that three people die every day because they are not transplanted,” says CDU member of the Bundestag Gitta Connemann. She describes the desperation of patients who cannot be helped and their relatives:
In the end, this is so despairing because we know from surveys that 84 percent of people in this country are positive about organ donation. 61 percent make their personal decision for or against organ donation, but only 40 percent document this decision.
Almost all parties represented in the initiative
Currently, you can only become an organ donor if you have given your consent yourself or if your relatives agree after your death. A fundamentally different system could bring in more donors – that is the hope of six members of the Bundestag from the SPD, CDU, Greens, FDP, CSU and the Left Party.
They want to ensure that in future the rule explained by the parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Sabine Dittmar of the SPD, applies: “Every adult who is capable of giving consent is eligible to be an organ donor if he or she has consented or has not objected.”
Minors should be able to object from the age of 14 and consent from the age of 16. In all other cases, the parents should decide.
Objection should be easy
A first attempt to introduce an objection regulation failed four years ago. It is important to the initiators that the objection should be very easy to make. “Anyone who is not prepared to do so can object at any time and should he or she change his or her mind, this is also possible at any time without giving reasons,” emphasises Petra Sitte from the Left Party. The objection should also be able to be explained – on a piece of paper that one carries with oneself, e.g. in one’s wallet.
The MPs’ initiative is about increasing the number of donors, says Armin Grau of the Greens. On the other hand, it is intended to initiate a social debate: “So that as many people as possible can make their decision about whether to be an organ donor or not.” The freedom of decision of each individual is in no way affected or restricted by the opt-out solution.
Similar initiative in the Federal Council
If the new initiative finds a majority in the Bundestag, the proposal could become law next year. The Bundesrat is also calling for an opt-out rule. Several federal states had introduced a corresponding initiative in the middle of the month.