38 votes in favor, 36 votes against. It is with a close vote of the senators that the Dutch parliament has just ratified a law which automatically registers every citizen over the age of 18 as an organ donor after their death. In this country of 17 million inhabitants only 40% of the Dutch were registered in the donor register. A rate including people who explicitly refuse to donate their organs. The new law is expected to increase organ donor registrations to meet health needs. transplants, according to the public broadcaster NOS. 57 people awaiting a transplant died for lack of donors during the first half of 2016, according to the NOS channel taken over by AFP.
MP Pia Dijkstra, the originator of the bill, said that under the new system, anyone over the age of 18 who is not on the register will receive an email asking if they want to donate their organs after death. .
“They will be able to answer: yes, no, my relatives will decide or a specific person will decide,” said Pia Dijkstra in a statement taken up by The Independent. Those who do not respond to the first solicitation will receive a second email six weeks later. In the absence of a response, they will automatically be considered as organ donors.
However, before any donation, the relatives of the deceased will be consulted to give their consent. Otherwise the donation cannot take place.
A national register of refusals in France
In France organ donation is governed by three main principles of bioethics law, namely “presumed consent”, free donation and anonymity between the donor and the recipient. Since January 1, 2017, a decree to the health law has modified the refusal modalitiesorgan donation, recalls the information site dondorganes.fr of the biomedicine agency. From now on, opposition to the removal of organs and tissues after death must be entered in the national register of refusals. Registration is now possible online on the site registrenationaldesrefus.fr.
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