Should Bmycharity encourage more people to become blood and organ donors?
Last night I attended an event at the RSA where Professors AC Grayling, James Neuberger and Dr Chris Rudge spoke about altruism and the triggers and barriers to organ donation (audio files of the event will be available shortly through the RSA website). The event was chaired by Matthew Taylor, CEO of the RSA, and supported by NHS Blood and Transplant.
Some of the key points from the panel discussion were:
- 3 people die every day for want of a donated organ
- 50% of potential donors (1000 people each year) don't donate
- The most common reason for non-donation is family objection
- Smokers make up only 25% of the population, but 70% of organ donors
- NHSBT is aiming to build the organ donor register to 25 million
- Ensuring that the family of registered donors support transplant is very important
The panel explored the social, medical and philosophical implications of assumed consent and trading in organs, and two beneficiaries of organ donation shared their experiences of awaiting and then receiving organs.
After the panel discussion, I spoke to Sally Johnson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHSBT, and her colleague Emma Harbour about the profile of blood and organ donors, and whether we may be able to help them in their objectives of increasing the size of the donor register and raising awareness so more potential donors become actual donors. Raising general awareness is vital since it is in the immediate aftermath of death that families need to be able to confirm the wishes of the donor.
So, should we add a panel or banner to Bmycharity pages inviting people to register? People who give time and money to charities are very likely to be disproportionately responsive to non-financial requests for altruistic action. But we don't want to put people off donating funds, and we don't want to pressure people.
Perhaps a discreet panel pointing out that 3 lives could be saved every day if more donors were available and encouraging people to discuss their wishes with their family - what do you think?
