More than 9000 people in the UK need a transplant and over 400 of them die every year before receiving one. One of the factors that contributes to this is the shortage of suitable organs for transplantation. The UK has an 'opt-in' system, which means that people choose to be a donor by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register and carrying a donor card so that their wishes are known after they die. Surveys repeatedly show that in the UK there is overwhelming support for donation yet only 24 per cent of people are on the Register.

In September 2007, Health Secretary Alan Johnson asked the Organ Donation Taskforce to investigate whether an 'opt-out' system - where it would be assumed that anyone who dies is willing to have their organs used to save another life unless they have specifically registered their objections while alive - would help solve the problem. Such systems are used in Spain and Austria and transplantation success is greater than in the UK. But not everyone agrees that one thing leads to another. Will introducing presumed consent increase the transplantation rate? Or will other ideas such as more transplant coordinators to work with families, improving technologies and changing the organisation of the system help more?

Speakers

Gill Haddow, Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.

Monica Navarro-Michel, Law School, University of Barcelona.

Juliet Tizzard, Deputy Head of Medical Ethics, British Medical Association.

Facilitator

Claudia Hammond, BBC.

Gill Haddow
I have been interested in people's attitudes, beliefs and views on organ donation and transplantation since the late 1990s. I have conducted research in the area that included interviewing family members about the decision to donate organs of their deceased relative. I've also conducted a survey of the general public's views about replacing our current voluntary system with alternatives such as presumed consent or financial incentives. I am currently working on the ethical, legal and social implications of donating DNA and information to population genetic data collections.

Monica Navarro-Michel
Born in 1969, I studied at the School of Law at the University of Barcelona, obtaining a Master of Laws in 1992. I did my PhD at the same university in 2000. I am a lecturer at the University of Barcelona and have been a visiting researcher at the University of Manchester. I am a member of the Observatory of Bioethics and Law in Barcelona, and am a participant in the Economic and Social Research Council-sponsored Seminar Series 'Transplantation and Organ Deficit in the UK: Pragmatic solutions to ethics controversy', organised by the School of Law, University of Manchester.

Juliet Tizzard
I am Deputy Head of Ethics at the British Medical Association, an organisation that has been campaigning for an 'opt-out' system of presumed consent since 2000. I have worked in healthcare ethics and policy for more than a decade and have a Master's degree in Medical Law and Ethics from King's College London.