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Mandated choice sounds like a very useful mechanism, but I would fear that for many people being confronted with this choice when you are renewing your driver's

Mandated choice sounds like a very useful mechanism, but I would fear that for many people being confronted with this choice when you are renewing your driver's licence means defaulting for the 'safe' option of non-donor. The tricky thing about organ donation is that the default choice tends to be 'postpone deciding'. For society at large this is harmful. Hypothetically, if you could ask someone's ghost after they've died on the hospital table, I bet most people would gladly donate their organs (perhaps with the occasional “Oh but can you please leave my face untouched?” thrown in) after accepting their untimely demise. But we can't. So with opt-in and a with a mandated binary choice at a set time you go for the safe option, which is 'non-donor' (“I'll change it after I've thought it through.”).

ghaff 10y ago
I don't disagree with any of that. The alternative though with opt out is that you're effectively not giving many people a choice because they don't get around to making one. Maybe that's ok as a matter of policy but it has both philosophical and practical issues.
michaelt 10y ago
Hypothetically, if you could ask someone's ghost [...] I bet most people would gladly donate their organs Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to imagine you know someone's preferences better than they do when they've explicitly stated their preferences through a forced choice mechanism?
MrZongle2 10y ago
"Mandated choice sounds like a very useful mechanism, but I would fear that for many people being confronted with this choice when you are renewing your driver's licence means defaulting for the 'safe' option of non-donor." But at that point, they have made a choice (as ill-informed as it may be) as opposed to one being made for them. I'm an organ donor. I encourage others to do the same. That said, when a government makes choices about your body for you -- even if the choice seems "right" -- I find it a bit unsettling. Freedom is measured best when the "wrong" option is chosen. It also illuminates those who just give such freedom lip service.

ghaff 10y ago

I don't disagree with any of that. The alternative though with opt out is that you're effectively not giving many people a choice because they don't get around to making one. Maybe that's ok as a matter of policy but it has both philosophical and practical issues.

michaelt 10y ago

Hypothetically, if you could ask someone's ghost [...] I bet most people would gladly donate their organs Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to imagine you know someone's preferences better than they do when they've explicitly stated their preferences through a forced choice mechanism?

MrZongle2 10y ago

"Mandated choice sounds like a very useful mechanism, but I would fear that for many people being confronted with this choice when you are renewing your driver's licence means defaulting for the 'safe' option of non-donor." But at that point, they have made a choice (as ill-informed as it may be) as opposed to one being made for them. I'm an organ donor. I encourage others to do the same. That said, when a government makes choices about your body for you -- even if the choice seems "right" -- I find it a bit unsettling. Freedom is measured best when the "wrong" option is chosen. It also illuminates those who just give such freedom lip service.