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You see how helmet laws could be abused by the government, but fail to see how organ donation could be abused by them too? Sorry, but mandatory organ donorship is a hellish practice. Just look to China where you can get a match for a pristine 20 year old's kidney in two weeks. You don't have to have that great of an imagination to figure out that scenario is impossible unless you're killing people only for their organs.
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There are far more people dying of causes that leave healthy organs available for transplant than there are people needing organs. The shortage is caused by people not taking the time to indicate that they want to donate. Because it's a system that is based on the presumption of not consenting, the large majority who never think about it one way or the other end up being buried with their organs intact.
I'm fully in favor of a presumption of consent to donate. It would work exactly as it does now. In case of an accidental death, the family would be contacted and asked what their wishes were regarding donation, and if the next of kin objected, no donation would occur; if they consented, the organs would be donated.
The big difference would be for the apathetic middle. Those like my family would still donate, and those, like the Orthodox Jewish family that lives next door, who have religious or other reasons not to donate, would still have their wishes honored. But that apathetic middle would be donating rather than not, and the organs lost because a person with a donor card or donor marked license has no family to consent would be used.
Heck, short of that, a very simple, easy to implement change would make a huge difference: Ask people when renewing licenses if they want to donate their organs. Many who make no effort on their own will say yes when asked. Make this a standard section of the license and then use that as consent without requiring additional family consent.
Grace has told me that they routinely get potential donors with a donor card or a marked license whose organs are lost because a family member can't be located quickly enough or the family member refuses donation against the expressed wishes of the patient. The beauty of this system is that it's a small change, no government intrusion, and it follows the wishes of the individual rather than relying on others to speak for her.
Grace also is a bit ambivalent regarding helmets. Young, healthy accident victims with severe head injuries and intact internal organs are the perfect organ donors.
Gilda