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The title of the article is misleading. France has had an opt-out sytem for organ donation for years. The only thing that has changed is that it is no longer re

by pd0wm 10y ago

The title of the article is misleading. France has had an opt-out sytem for organ donation for years. The only thing that has changed is that it is no longer required to consult relatives for a second opinion. > Until 1 January, when the legislation took effect, unless the person who had died had previously expressed a clear wish for or against donation, doctors were required to consult relatives who, in almost a third of cases, refused.

jobigoud 10y ago
So it wasn't really "opt-out" nor "opt-in" if the default case was that you had to consult relatives.
- catwell 10y ago
  You had to consult relatives and ask them: "do you know if the deceased was opposed to this"? This meant the way to opt out was to tell your relatives. It has been the case for 40 years. [1] There were posters in most hospital waiting rooms telling people to do this (which I found creepy as I found myself there a few months ago, waiting for news on whether a relative would live or die, by the way). See [2] for an example. Now the only way to opt out is to send snail mail (!) to be added to a nationwide file. It should become possible to do it over the Internet someday. Fun fact - we have a pin card that has been designed to store that information since 2006, but the feature has never been made accessible to the public. [3] [1] (fr) http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/12/22/don-d-organe-quarante-ans-apres-la-loi-sur-le-consentement-presume-ou-en-est-on_5053129_4355770.html http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/12/22/don-d... [2] (fr) http://fr.slideshare.net/amfe/guide-du-don-dorganes-2015-de-lagence-de-biomdecine http://fr.slideshare.net/amfe/guide-du-don-dorganes-2015-de-... [3] (fr) https://www.agence-biomedecine.fr/Carte-Vitale-2-et-don-d-organes?lang=fr https://www.agence-biomedecine.fr/Carte-Vitale-2-et-don-d-or...
  - jobigoud 10y ago
    Oh, so instead of saying "I don't know" to trigger the default, people were possibly lying and taking a decision on behalf of their deceased relative…
    - catwell 10y ago
      Yes, I added a source (the first one) which confirms that. 32.5 % of the time the relatives said no, but polls showed that it should only have been 21 %.
    - Tinyyy 10y ago
      Lying is a rather strong word, perhaps they thought that their relative was inclined to refuse donation. And default has no meaning here because they know that their answer decides the outcome; letting it fall to a “default” option decided by others seems to be rather irresponsible to the deceased relative.
      - loup-vaillant 10y ago
        Death is a rather traumatic event. Many people won't think straight in this situation. Some may just blurt out "no" because they're in no state to respond to any kind of request.

by pd0wm 10y ago

jobigoud 10y ago

So it wasn't really "opt-out" nor "opt-in" if the default case was that you had to consult relatives.

catwell 10y ago
You had to consult relatives and ask them: "do you know if the deceased was opposed to this"? This meant the way to opt out was to tell your relatives. It has been the case for 40 years. [1] There were posters in most hospital waiting rooms telling people to do this (which I found creepy as I found myself there a few months ago, waiting for news on whether a relative would live or die, by the way). See [2] for an example. Now the only way to opt out is to send snail mail (!) to be added to a nationwide file. It should become possible to do it over the Internet someday. Fun fact - we have a pin card that has been designed to store that information since 2006, but the feature has never been made accessible to the public. [3] [1] (fr) http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/12/22/don-d-organe-quarante-ans-apres-la-loi-sur-le-consentement-presume-ou-en-est-on_5053129_4355770.html http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/12/22/don-d... [2] (fr) http://fr.slideshare.net/amfe/guide-du-don-dorganes-2015-de-lagence-de-biomdecine http://fr.slideshare.net/amfe/guide-du-don-dorganes-2015-de-... [3] (fr) https://www.agence-biomedecine.fr/Carte-Vitale-2-et-don-d-organes?lang=fr https://www.agence-biomedecine.fr/Carte-Vitale-2-et-don-d-or...
- jobigoud 10y ago
  Oh, so instead of saying "I don't know" to trigger the default, people were possibly lying and taking a decision on behalf of their deceased relative…
  - catwell 10y ago
    Yes, I added a source (the first one) which confirms that. 32.5 % of the time the relatives said no, but polls showed that it should only have been 21 %.
  - Tinyyy 10y ago
    Lying is a rather strong word, perhaps they thought that their relative was inclined to refuse donation. And default has no meaning here because they know that their answer decides the outcome; letting it fall to a “default” option decided by others seems to be rather irresponsible to the deceased relative.
    - loup-vaillant 10y ago
      Death is a rather traumatic event. Many people won't think straight in this situation. Some may just blurt out "no" because they're in no state to respond to any kind of request.