Anatomical Gifts — Is it time to move to an opt-out system?

The following statistics serve as a sobering reminder of how important it is for a person to give serious consideration to being an organ donor.

• Number of people who receive an organ transplant each day = 70
• Number of people who die each day because of a shortage of organs = 16
• Number of people on waiting list for organs as of February 2, 2005 = 87,306

Organ Donations Give Life, USA Today, Feb. 4-6, 2005, at 1A.

Perhaps the law with regard to anatomical gifts should be changed.  Some people think the U.S. should adopt an opt-out approach (that is, you are an organ donor unless you carry an “anti-anatomical gift” card) rather than the current opt-in approach.  There are reports that countries (e.g., Belgium and Spain) using the opt-out approach have significant increased the availability of organs.

In January of this year, the British Medical Association has come out in favor of presumed consent to organ donation.