Dying for a kidney

Gordon Brown provoked plenty of response this week when he suggested that the UK should consider an 'opting out' system for organ donation.

In an opt-out system, consent of the deceased person would be presumed unless they had registered during their life that they did not want to donate their organs. The Prime Minister's remarks have prompted responses about coercion and conscripts.

This sounds like over-the-top scaremongering to me.

A campaign of information and education would give people plenty of chance to register an objection, and in practice, (as happens in other countries with this system) if the family did not wish the organs to be donated they would not be.

At present there are over 8,000 people waiting for transplants, most of them on life-restricting kidney dialysis. Someone dies every day because of a lack of suitable organs. Admittedly it is possible (though not likely) that someone could have their organs removed against their wishes, but how does that weigh against people dying unnecessarily? Bearing in mind that those who feel strongly about it will register an objection, is it really so terrible if a part of the body that someone has finished with is used to save a life, even if we are not certain of their wishes?

The principle of consent is an important one for the living, but is it so important that the ex-owner of a body keeps control over it, that we place this above a question of life or death for someone else?

Two thirds of people in the UK say they are in favour of donating their organs, but most of them never get round to doing anything about it - it is entirely possible that more people's wishes would be fulfilled in an opt-out system.

The Church of England recently suggested that it is a Christian duty to donate organs after death.

I agree.

The neighbour on the Jerusalem to Jericho road may have lost so much blood that he goes into renal failure and ends up on the transplant list. To give something that we no longer have use for, to someone who may die without it doesn't seem overly demanding and is surely a duty for those who claim to follow Christ's teaching and example.

'New life out of death' is a theme we hear every Easter. How can we obstruct this when the cost is so small? Perhaps we should even consider giving from our riches (two kidneys) to the poor (those with no functioning kidney) while we are still alive.

To offer a kidney to a neighbour or a stranger is now an option - click here to help.

Penny Worth is a minister and ethics student in York