Manitoba moves organ donation registry online

Manitoba is retiring the organ donor card in your wallet in favour of an online registry.

The province revealed on Tuesday it will no longer issue a printed donor card attached to a health card, directing Manitobans to express their interest at signupforlife.ca instead.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen says there are scenarios where people don't have their donor card on them when they die, and have never informed their loved ones of their intention.

Once Manitobans sign up online, the information will be readily available to health professionals, Friesen says.

Consent of families needed

"You could have felt strongly about taking that next step, but there was no way to capture that decision that you had made," he said.

Even now, an organ donation does not take place without the consent of families, which is why it's vital that everyone who signs up to be a donor tells their family, says Dr. Faisal Siddiqui, physician with Transplant Manitoba. 

"When families know what your wishes are, they honour them," he said.

More than 37,000 people have signed up to be an organ donor in Manitoba, including a record 11,400 people in 2018. The massive jump is credited to the story of Logan Boulet, who signed up to be an organ donor just weeks before the junior hockey player died in the Humboldt Broncos' bus crash last year. 

The province also announced that tissue donation services will be expanded to Southern Health beginning on Wednesday. It is already available in the Winnipeg and Interlake-Eastern regional health authorities.

Presumed consent not on the table

The subject of organ and tissue donation has been considered by the government, influenced in part by Brandon West MLA Reg Helwer, who campaigned for the importance of organ donation after his daughter had two kidney transplants.

The province struck an all-party task force on organ and tissue donation, which suggested increased public education to raise donation rates.

They considered the question of presumed consent, which would make everyone an organ donor unless they choose to opt out, but the group decided that focusing on education is more important, Friesen says. 

Nova Scotia recently tabled legislation to make the province the first jurisdiction in North America to have presumed consent for organ and tissue donation.