N.W.T. looks at joining Alberta's new organ donor registry
CBC News | Posted: September 17, 2014 1:03 PM | Last Updated: September 18, 2014
MLAs in the Northwest Territories are reviewing legislation that may make it easier for people to donate their organs.
N.W.T.'s Human Tissue Act hasn't been updated since it was written almost three decades ago. The proposed changes outline how people consent to donate organs and the circumstances when people can consent for loved ones.
Debbie DeLancey, N.W.T. deputy minister of Health and Social Services, says she hopes the changes will allow the territory to be part of a new donor registry system in Alberta.
"Some people fill out a card, some people make their wishes known to family; sometimes it's a discussion to have with someone who is ill," she said.
"This would create a very black and white, very clear capacity for an individual to let it be known what their wishes are. It takes out all that guesswork for a family."
There are challenges to donating in the territory. Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife is now the only facility that can keep bodies on life support so organs can be harvested.
"We will always be locked into Alberta's system; we're too small, too geographically diverse to take on this function," she said.
Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny says he has been pushing for more co-ordination of organ donations.
"Being with a local family here in Yellowknife and going through what they've had to go through with their loved one, it's painful to see someone waiting for an organ."
Dolynny said he hopes linking up with Alberta's registry will increase the number of people who volunteer to donate.