Three Ethical Ways to Increase Organ Donation in Australia
Authors: William Isdale & Julian Savulescu
An edited version of this post was published by The Conversation
Last week the Federal Government announced that there would be a review of Australia’s tissue and organ transplantation systems. The impetus for the review appears to be continually disappointing donation rates, despite the adoption of a national reform agenda in 2008.
Since 2008 there has been an increase from 12.1 dpmp (donations per million population) to a peak of 16.9 in 2013 – but the dip last year (to 16.1) indicates that new policies need to be considered if rates are to be substantially increased.
Australia’s donation levels remain considerably below world’s best practice, even after adjusting for rates and types of mortality. At least twenty countries achieve better donation rates than Australia, including comparable countries like Belgium (29.9), USA (25.9), France (25.5) and the UK (20.8).
The review will focus in particular on the role of the national Organ and Tissue Authority, which helps coordinate donation services. However, many of the key policy settings are in the hands of state and territory governments.
It is time to go beyond improving the mechanisms for implementing existing laws, and to consider more fundamental changes to organ procurement in Australia.
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