Advances in medical science mean that the number of people whose lives could be saved by a transplant is rising more rapidly than the number of willing donors. The law as it stands condemns many, some of them children, to an unnecessary death, simply because of the shortage of willing donors while, as the BMA puts it, 'bodies are buried or cremated complete with organs that could have been used to save lives'.
Organ removal without the expressed wish of the deceased could be distressing for his or her family. The proposed change in the law is open to abuse, with the possibility of death being hastened to secure an organ needed by some other patient. The safeguard - that is, the right to refuse permission for your organs to be removed - is inadequate. A terminally ill patient or his/her relatives would be made to feel selfish if permission was withheld.
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