Change in law will make asking for permission for harvesting of organs redundant
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An amendment in the making, the purpose of which is to alleviate the shortage of donated organs for transplants, has the potential of saving dozens of lives in Finland. Currently organs and tissue can only be harvested from people who have signed an organ donor card.
A new practice envisioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health would allow the harvesting of organs from brain dead patients without separate enquiries, except in the case that the patient is known to have specifically opposed the idea. With underage patients each case would be determined individually.
The aim of the amendment is to address the acute donor organ shortage situation. The starting point with the reform is the notion that when alive the diseased adopted a positive attitude towards organ donations and therefore a separate permission for harvesting is not needed.
The idea is backed up by a fresh study, according to which 90% of the Finns would permit the use of their organs after their death. The number is on the increase, for three years ago the corresponding figure was 83 per cent.
Currently there are around 300 Finns queueing for donated organs. The success rate of the transplant surgeries is good. Ninety per cent of the transplanted organs still function after a year from the operation.
Currently organs are harvested only from people who have a signed organ donor card, or whose next of kin grant permission for the use of organs.
Only a fifth of the Finns, however, have signed the card, and often people are not carrying their card with them.
Turning to the next of kin, on the other hand, is not very easy, as this is asking people who have just lost a loved one to start thinking of those being helped by the donated organs in the midst of their grief.
Furthermore, there is less and less time for the asking procedure, as hospitals are getting increasingly busy.
The number of organ transplant operations has decreased in recent years, even though the need for them has increased. A total of 230 persons received a new organ last year. Kidneys dominated, with 150, while 47 received a new liver, and there were 21 heart transplants and 12 lung transplants.
Lea Virtanen, 64, from Ilmajoki had a liver transplant operation three weeks ago at the Surgical Hospital in Helsinki.
Virtanen was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver three years ago. The root of the illness has remained unclear.
According to Virtanen, without the transplant operation she would not have had long to live. Virtanen’s recovery from the operation has started well. “I hope that in the spring I will even be able to tend my flowers a little bit”, Virtanen says happily.
Helsingin Sanomat
