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Organ donor rates in Jersey are about three times lower than the UK, and its hoped new rules will start to push up the local numbers.
The Human Transplantation and Anatomy Law will be debated by the States Assembly in April - if adopted, it'll introduce an opt-out organ donation system, where people would be presumed to consent to their organs being donated after they die, unless they have opted out of the national organ donation register.
While the main goal of the new system would be to make sure "as many organs as possible are available," the Minister for Health and Social Services, Senator Andrew Green said he hopes it will encourage islanders to speak about their choice. During a hearing with the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel yesterday, he said: "At the moment we have a very low uptake of people opting in, because they haven't got around it, not because they have problems about organ donation. We are hoping that by changing the system to an opt-out, people will talk about their choice, not when they are faced with their loved ones' end of life but years in advance.
"This needs to happen so that people know what their loved ones wanted and we are encouraging people to have the conversation. The main focus should be around the conversation."
Pictured: The 2017 Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey showed that 14% of islanders were registered on the organ donation register despite 55% of them being in favour of it.
12% of islanders are currently registered as organ donors, compared to 36% in the UK. Earlier this year there were 12 people waiting for a transplant in the island. Between March 2016 and 2017, three deceased islanders were able to donate organs that were then transplanted into nine different individuals.
While some people shared concerns with the Scrutiny Panel that their wish to opt out might not be respected, the Health Minister said that this wouldn't be the case, adding that the law was "quite clear" on the matter. Senator Green and his team assured that, where a person opts out from the register, their family would not be able to opt them back in.
But where a person does not express a decision, and so their consent is deemed, the organ retrieval will not take place if the family objects to it.
Senator Green explained that the proposed system is a "soft opt-out." "Where people give expressed consent, if there's objection to going ahead, it won't happen."
Pictured: Andrew Green's proposed opt-out system will be debated in the States Assembly on 20 April.
Sam North, the Acting Clinical Manager for the Intensive Care and High Dependency Unit and a former organ donation specialist nurse, also explained that if the family and next-of-kin, which will include "long-standing friends" such as boyfriend or girlfriends, cannot agree, then no donation will take place.
If the law is approved by the States Assembly and the Privy Council, the Health Minister said that a public information and awareness campaign will take place before the law is enacted. The report accompanying the proposition mentioned this would require around £20,000, funded by the Health and Social Services Department from existing resources.
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