Members of five parties in parliament have proposed an amendment to laws regarding the donation of organs, according to Vísir.
The amendment is meant to introduce so-called presumed consent, meaning that unless otherwise specified, individuals are presumed to have consented to donating an organ in case of their accidental death.
Such an arrangement is said to be much more efficient than one which requires prior consent. It has been implemented in Austria, for example, where presumed consent covers 99 percent of potential donors. In Germany, by contrast, a system of prior consent is in use and consent only given by 12 percent of potential organ donors.
The basic premise underlying the proposed amendment, Vísir reports, is that it’s more natural to assume that rather than not wanting to help, people prefer helping a fellow human being in need by donating an organ. The MPs suggest the database of the Directorate of Health be used to record consent or lack thereof.
Right now, every Icelander must consent to potential future organ donation. Still, an organ donation can’t take place if the potential donor’s closest relative is against it.
