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Organ donation
“Bright spot”: Union, FDP and Greens welcome Lauterbach’s kidney donation plan
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) at a press conference at the end of March.
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
This rarely happens: The opposition Union praises a draft law by Karl Lauterbach. The SPD Health Minister wants to make kidney donations easier in Germany. Now the CDU and CSU are pushing for speed – and demanding more.
The health policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Tino Sorge, has welcomed plans by the Federal Ministry of Health to make kidney donation easier in Germany. “The new regulation would be a ray of hope for many thousands of those affected who are waiting for a donor organ,” Sorge told the star. It is now crucial that the new regulations are implemented quickly and with little bureaucracy. “The involvement of those affected and medical professionals will be of great importance,” explained the MP. “Ethical questions should not be underestimated either.”
Organ donation: CDU wants a new approach to solving the contradiction
Sorge also called for a fundamental reform of organ donation after death. The central question remains whether the decision-making solution is the right way, said Sorge. “There is much to suggest that a new attempt should be made to resolve the objection.” Even if this regulation did not find a majority in the Bundestag in 2020, it would enable a significant increase in the number of donors. Sorge: “For me personally, this would be a debate that we should have across all factions in the Bundestag.”
Tino Sorge is the health policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
Again star reported, Health Minister Karl is planning Lauterbach is calling for a change to the transplantation law that is intended to make so-called cross donation easier. The draft bill shows that in the future cross-donations can also be made without any particular proximity. Only the affected donor couples must continue to be close to each other, for example through a marriage or other close family relationship.
If the kidney cannot be donated directly due to incompatibility, the kidney will be given anonymously to another suitable donor pair. The organization is taken over by the transplant center. The aim of anonymity is to prevent money from being paid for an organ.
Praise also from the Greens
The green traffic light coalition partner also praised the reform. It is “right and important,” said health policy spokesman Janosch Dahmen star. Without political intervention, the need for kidney donations is likely to increase in the coming years in an aging and chronically sicker society, while at the same time the proportion of suitable donor organs will decrease.
The reform, said Dahmen, therefore aims to increase the number of eligible donors to the level of our European neighbors. However: “The top priority must always be the complete voluntary nature of any donation and comprehensive medical protection before and after a living donation.”
In principle, so-called anonymous, non-directed kidney donations should also be permitted. Theoretically, anyone could donate a kidney selflessly – without having any influence on who gets it. This regulation has been in place in the USA for a long time.
The second traffic light partner, the FDP, also welcomed the Lauterbach plans. “The draft bill implements parts of what we as the FDP parliamentary group have been demanding for a long time,” said health policy spokesman Andrew Ullmann star: “Cross living donation is a further step towards modern transplantation law and will save lives.”
FDP wants debate about another criterion
But further measures must now also be considered, said Ullmann: “From my personal point of view, it is now time for us to debate the approval of cardiovascular death in parliament. Here we in Germany are lagging behind a modern definition compared to Europe still lagging behind and missing the opportunity to transplant more organs and thus save lives.”
In contrast to other countries such as Spain, in Germany organs can only be removed after brain death has been diagnosed if the heart is still beating. If the circulation is no longer intact, no organ may be transplanted. An example: If a potential donor dies in a traffic accident before he gets to the hospital, his organs may no longer be transplanted, even if a donor card is presented. Many experts believe this ban is wrong.
The Union accused Health Minister Lauterbach of submitting the draft law late. “But the initiative cannot hide the fact that Karl Lauterbach was hesitant to take up the issue of organ donation,” said spokesman Tino Sorge. At times the project no longer even appeared in his ministry’s planning. “The organ donation register was only launched a few weeks ago because the traffic lights delayed it for months.”
Sorge explained that his group had initiated the debate about easier crossover donations a year ago: “If couples willing to donate have to travel to other European countries because German regulations are too strict and unworldly, that is an untenable situation.”
The ProTransplant alliance, in which several associations have joined forces, also criticizes the timing. “All in all, this is a long overdue step, but one that will have an impact far too late,” said spokesman Mario Rosa-Bian star. Overall, the new regulation is just “a drop in the ocean of the low number of organ donations”.