Well, we all know that there are more people needing organ transplants than there are available donors. This is because there are way fewer people who sign up to donate their organs than people needing them. Bioethics is becoming increasingly obsessed with how to change this – everything from redefining death to suggesting people be allowed to sell their organs for profit. A more insidious plan is to make laws that declare “presumed consent.” That is, the state will assume you want to give up your organs unless you specify otherwise. Ah, Big Brother . . .
Donors' consent can't be presumed
Individuals who sign up for New York's Donate Life Registry perform a selfless act, as do families who agree to organ donation amid the loss of a loved one. Still, New York's organ donor registration rate is among the nation's lowest — just 13 percent of people 18 and older have designated themselves as organ and tissue donors. That means too many New Yorkers wait for organ donations that will never come.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, wants to create a system of "presumed consent" to increase the pool of organ donors. Under such an arrangement, it would be presumed that a person agreed to become a donor, unless she opts out. more
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