Scientists to deny Brown's organ donor rules

Friday, 14 November 2008 11:30 AM

Gordon Brown's proposal to make everyone a prospective organ donor unless they actively decline is set to be denied by the government's advisory board next week.

Though Mr Brown and England's chief medical officer both think the new proposal could save thousands of lives, the Organ Donation Taskforce is likely to decide that changing the law is pointless, the Times has learnt.

The 'presumed permission' system is thought by some consultants to have very little potential to increase organ donations and is likely to create hostility and recoil from the public as well as expediency issues for the NHS.

But other medical professionals think everything should be done to bring down waiting lists and save lives.

The decision will put Mr Brown and the medical and scientific consultants in opposition to each other for the second time this year, after the decision to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug.

In the UK only 3,000 transplants take place annually though there are over 8,000 people on the wait list for organs.

The opt-out system is currently implemented in other European countries such as Spain and France.

The advice of the advisers is not compulsory on the government and the new campaign may still be moved forward.

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• health
,
• medical ethics