Evening News 24 - Transplant man backs donor proposals

Evening News 24 - Transplant man backs donor proposals

Transplant man backs donor proposals

SARAH HALL
15 January 2008 15:00

A man whose life was transformed after a double liver transplant today backed government plans to change the law on the way organs are donated.

Matt Hastings, 27, was speaking out after it was revealed there is currently a worrying shortage of organ donors and subsequently an increase in unnecessary deaths.

There are more than 8,000 patients waiting for an organ donation and more than 1,000 a year die without receiving an organ that could save their lives.

The government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has called for a "revolution" in organ transplants.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the situation is so severe he wants to start a system of "presumed consent" this year.

Mr Hastings, from Caister, has been campaigning for presumed consent through an online petition. It would mean everyone would be automatically eligible for organ donation after death unless they actively opted out.

Mr Hastings was just two months from death when he received a new liver for the second time because of chronic rejection of the first one.

"The operation I had saved my life and since then I have been encouraging people to sign up to the organ donor register," he said. "But there are not enough people putting their names down so something drastic has to be done. I believe presumed consent has to be the way forward.

"It makes little sense to me that if someone is dying in hospital because they need a certain organ but some one who has died has that organ but it can't be used.

"Why should some one else die. The number of people dying while they are waiting for a transplant is increasing. It is a crisis and something needs to be done now.

"I have set up a website in the hope I can get signatures to support presumed consent. It is a horrible thing to talk about but people need to realise how bad the situation is."

Mr Hastings was diagnosed with auto-immune hepatitis, an inflamed liver, while at Caister High School. His first liver transplant failed so he had to have a second one and now leads a normal life.

Some 70pc of people want to donate their organs after death but only 20pc are on the NHS organ donor register. Since 2002, 17 people in the Norwich area have died while waiting for a transplant.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said: "Although this is an issue that will arouse strong reactions, the potential for saving lives through a system of presumed consent cannot be ignored.

"The experiences of other countries with such a system present a very powerful case for introducing it here.

"However, it is vital that we ensure that the ability to opt out is a genuine one. No families should be left feeling that such a step was taken against their will."