Organ Donation Day
Expert: Still too few potential organ donors
The back of a completed organ donor card. The consent box is checked. Photo
© Marie Reichenbach/dpa
Thousands of people in Germany are currently in urgent need of a donor organ. But only a minority are willing to donate organs. According to experts, this would help.
In around two thirds of all cases, relatives are therefore faced with the question: organ donation, yes or no? In making this decision, relatives are obliged to follow the oral or presumed wishes of the deceased or must decide according to their own values, said Rahmel on the occasion of Organ Donation Day on Saturday (June 1).
“In the uncertainty, they do not give their consent to organ donation in eight out of ten conversations: And this despite the fact that the majority of the population, more than 80 percent according to surveys, supports organ donation,” said Rahmel.
Waiting lists show urgent need
A look at Eurotransplant’s waiting lists shows just how great the need for organ donations is. According to the organization, at the end of April, more than 8,300 people nationwide were waiting for a donor organ. More than 6,400 cases involved patients waiting for a kidney.
The new online register for organ donation gives the DSO hope. Since mid-March, people have been able to register at www.organspende-register.de whether or not they want to donate organs after their death. According to the Federal Center for Health Education, more than 120,000 people had already registered by the end of May.
From the DSO’s point of view, there were many registrations in the first few days after the introduction. But now the number is only increasing slowly, so that, as things stand, it will take many years before a significant proportion of people in Germany have documented their wishes in the register.
DSO board member Rahmel is calling for more information about the portal. Only if as many people as possible register their wishes in the register can the portal be a valuable addition to organ donor cards and living wills.
“Promote a culture of organ donation”
In addition, the German Organ Transplant Foundation sees the register as an important basis for the possible introduction of the opt-out solution. This is intended to require willingness to donate organs. If someone does not want to do this, they must object. The federal states of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia recently announced a Federal Council initiative for a corresponding law. In 2020, a first attempt to pass such a law in the Bundestag failed.
“The opt-out solution could help to promote a culture of organ donation that other countries already have ahead of us,” said DSO board member Rahmel. “It would be a clear signal that society and politics support organ donation and would create a basis for a positive and natural approach to the issue of organ donation.”