This topic seems to come up again and agina and was brought to my attention this week on a TV debate on BBCone. Although I've always been for the "opt-out" scheme which has been adopted in some coutries eg Spain, I started to see the ethical points raised by arguments AGAINST the proposals:
FOR the opt-out schmeme:
Saves lives, reduces waiting times for organ transplantations, beneficence (doing what's best for the patient needing the transplant) and justice (benefiting the greater good of the population) are just some of the points for.
AGAINST the opt-out scheme:
Loss of patient autonomy on deciding what is to be done with their organs following death, the danger of harvesting organs against family members of the deceased's wishes leading to distress, possibility of leading to an increase in mistrust in doctors about how organs are handled (I don't believe this) and also the loss of that sense of 'giving someone the gift of life' if organ donation becomes automatic.
The opt-out organ donation scheme was most recently reviewed in 2010 and will be reviewed again in the near future. Any scheme would need to come with aggressive advertising to allow people to opt-out of the scheme, however I beleive that before jumping to this more should be done to get people registered to opt-in. I'd like to see GPs asking patients, schools requiring all leavers to register their wishes or people passing their driving tests to register (although I think this may already be being done).
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