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【社会人文】聚焦活着的器官捐献者
Focus on living organ donors, report says
Presuming that all Ontario residents are willing to donate their organs when they die makes most people uncomfortable and the province should instead focus on recruiting living donors to meet the demand, according to a report released Thursday.
Although there's an urgent need to help the more than 1,700 Ontario residents awaiting organ donations, doctors should get explicit permission from dying patients before assuming they will donate, the report said.
"The people who actually make the decision of whether or not (to donate), they weren't very hot on (presumed consent)," said Ted Boadway, chairman of a citizens panel commissioned by the province to explore the issue.
"People were quite clear. They want their wishes to be respected."
While the panel had a lot of "lively debate" about presumed consent, Boadway said the decision to support live organ donations was unanimous, adding that such donations were the highest expression of altruistic behaviour the panel members could think of.
The group also recommended that people be required to state their views on organ donation when applying for, or renewing, a driver's licence or health card – a suggestion previously put forward in a private member's bill introduced by Conservative Frank Klees.
The Ontario Medical Association and the New Democrats also lent their support to the bill, but Health Minister George Smitherman said it's unlikely the government will endorse it.
Smitherman said Klees's bill has been helpful in promoting debate about organ donation, but added the government would be pursuing its own strategy.
"We have the opportunity with this report to be a world leader, and accordingly the people of Ontario should know this is the objective of their government," he said.
New Democrat Peter Kormos slammed Smitherman for not supporting Klees's bill and said he's ignoring a good idea just to avoid working with the Opposition.
"This is nothing more than playing politics with the lives of people on overly long waiting lists," he said.
Klees said it wouldn't be hard for the government to implement the bill quickly and start the process of building a database of donors.
"This is something that is an administrative measure that is really of no cost, it can be implemented very quickly, we can have it on our application forms by the end of the year," he said.
The idea could do a lot of good in forcing people to think about the issue now, rather than at the last second when it's often too late, said Trillium Gift of Life Network president Frank Markel.
"Enough people don't think about this ahead of time and so they find themselves with a sudden loss in their family, they're consumed by grief, all they can think about is their loss," he said.
"They can't think beyond that to reach out and help someone else."
Smitherman said he will commit to supporting live donors and called them "the answer" to addressing the long waiting lists.
Live donors are those who provide a liver or kidney to someone in need; there were 274 in Ontario in 2006.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal has suggested about one in four potential live donors change their mind because of the potential financial hardships involved, and the panel recommended such donors be compensated for lost wages, travel, accommodation and child care expenses.
Last year, British Columbia brought in a pilot project that reimburses live donors up to $5,500 for similar expenses.
Boadway said that may sound expensive but it's actually a savings of about 4,000 per cent for the health-care system and makes a strong case for live organ donation.
"Yes, it will cost us some money, but compared to what we gain it's massive," he said.
"In our opinion, those who manage the health-care system can't afford not to invest money here with that kind of payback." 本人认领，48小时未提交，请其他战友自由认领 http://www.thestar.com/News/article/204993
Focus on living organ donors, report says
聚焦活体器官捐献人
Presuming that all Ontario residents are willing to donate their organs when they die makes most people uncomfortable and the province should instead focus on recruiting living donors to meet the demand, according to a report released Thursday.
周四发布的报道说，假定所有的安大略湖居民都有意愿死后捐献他们的器官，那会使大多数人感觉不舒服，而省里则需要集中精力募集这些还活着的捐献人来满足他们的需求。
Although there's an urgent need to help the more than 1,700 Ontario residents awaiting organ donations, doctors should get explicit permission from dying patients before assuming they will donate, the report said.
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2010-11-11 17:11
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