Law prioritises donor card holders
A new Israeli law will see donor card holders prioritised for transplants
Sunday March 14 2010
Israel is launching a potentially trailblazing experiment in organ donation - sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for a transplant if one is needed.
The new law is the first of its kind in the world, and international medical authorities are eager to see if it boosts organ supply.
But it has also raised resistance from within Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority. These opponents say it discriminates against them because their religious convictions forbid the donation of their organs, and while they are unlikely to get the law reversed, they have the political clout to slow its implementation.
Only 10% of Israeli adults hold donor cards, compared with more than 30% in most Western countries.
The actual rate of families donating a deceased's organs is 45%, but in other countries it rises to 70%, according to Jacob Lavee, director of the heart transplant unit at Israel's Sheba Medical Centre. The low rate of organ donation is thought to be partly driven by religious considerations.
Lavee, the doctor who helped draft the law, hopes that a broader pool of organs will ultimately benefit everyone, but he acknowledges that one of his primary motivations is "to prevent free riders".
"This is the first time that a non-medical criterion has been established in organ allocation," he said. "It will rectify the unfairness of the situation where people who are unwilling to donate wait in the same line as those who are willing."
The measure opens a new dimension in the worldwide quest to overcome organ shortages. One solution - a legalised organ market - is ethically fraught. Another is called "presumed consent", where whoever does not opt out is considered a donor.
Spain, France, Austria and Belgium have adopted the latter model and rank among the top European nations in percentage of deceased donations, according to a UN study.
Writing in the December issue of The Lancet, the British medical journal, Dr. Paolo Bruzzone of Sapienza University in Rome said the Israeli initiative made more sense.
