Negative option organ donation unsupported in Ontario, says panel

People in Ontario do not want to be presumed as organ donors, according to a report released Thursday that suggests other ways of improving donation rates.

Under a presumed consent law, everyone would automatically be an organ donor when they die unless they hadspecifically opted out.

A provincial standing committee is considering a bill called the Organ and Tissue Donation Mandatory Declaration Act, as more than 1,700 people in the province urgently wait for transplants.

A citizen's panel commissioned by the province found people objected to presumed consent, also called negative option. Their report was presented to Ontario's minister of health.

"People have got it figured out in a minute," said Dr. Ted Boadway, the committee's chair. "They don't want negative option for billing, and they don't want negative option for their body."

Doctors and nurses involved in organ donation also disliked the negative option, Boadway said.

"We'd use the words, 'organ-seizing ghouls,' " Boadway said. "They don't want to be seen that way."

Instead, the group recommended that people over 16 should have to indicate whether they will or will not donate, or are undecided, when they fill out an application for a health-care cardor driver's licence.

Forcing people to think about donating beforehand could help, said Frank Martel, president of the Trillium Gift of Life Network.

"Enough people don't think about this ahead of time and so they find themselves with a sudden loss in their family, they're consumed by grief, all they can think about is their loss," Martel said.

"They can't think beyond that to reach out and help someone else."

The panel also unanimously supported living donations. People who wish to donate a kidney or part of liver while they are still living to someone in need should be compensated for lost wages, travel, child-care expenses and be given job security, the report recommended.

Last year, British Columbia introduced a pilot project that reimburses live donors up to $5,500 for expenses.

HealthMinister George Smitherman said he was pleased with the recommendation to supportliving donors.

The Ontario Medical Association said it also strongly supported increased awareness and education to improve organ donation rates.