Ahead of the upcoming change in the law, Steve McCabe MP has been encouraging constituents to have the important conversation with their loved ones about organ donation.
To mark Organ Donation Week 2019 Steve McCabe MP is supporting the NHS campaign encouraging families to have the important conversation about organ donation. In Birmingham Selly Oak there are currently nine people waiting for an organ on the active transplant list, part of the 6,309 people nationwide who are awaiting a transplant.
From spring 2020, organ donation in England will move to an ‘opt out’ system. This means that all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to be an organ donor when they die unless they have recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups. Even after the upcoming law change, families will still continue to be approached before organ donation goes ahead, so the need to register your decision and tell your family is just as important as ever.
Steve McCabe said: “Choosing to donate your organs after you die is an amazingly generous act and over 50,000 people in this country would not be alive today without the actions of organ donors and their families. However if you do decide to join the NHS organ donor register, it is important that you let your loved ones know. Despite the new ‘opt out’ system, you still have the right to choose whether or not to be an organ donor and your family will still be consulted about donating your organs when you die. That is why I am encouraging my constituents to have the conversation about organ donation as it will make things easier for their family at what will be a difficult time if they know what decision their relative made”.
For more information on organ donation and the upcoming change in the law, please visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/opt-out
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