'Everyone should be a donor'

Everyone should be treated as an organ donor after death unless they explicitly choose to opt out, the Chief Medical Officer has said.It is believed Sir Liam Donaldson will press for such a change in the law on organ donation at the unveiling of his annual report on the nation's health.According to newspaper reports, he thinks the organ shortage in the UK is so dire that there should be a system which presumes patients consent to give their body parts for transplant.People wanting to opt out would have to register in a reverse of the current system which asks those willing to donate their organs to carry cards, according to the paper.The paper said Donaldson would probably favour a "soft" option which would take the views of a victim's family into account.Figures released earlier this year showed waiting lists for organ transplants had hit an all-time high - with a record number of people also receiving an organ transplant.Transplant figures showed a total of 7,234 patients were registered as waiting for a transplant on March 31 - 8 per cent higher than a year earlier.They also showed that 3,074 patients received a transplant in that year - 10 per cent higher than the previous year and the highest number on record.A further 1.1 million people also joined the NHS Organ Donor Register, taking the total by the end of 2006/07 to more than 14.2 million.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | July 17, 2007

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