The Bundestag is facing one of its most difficult decisions in this legislative period. Presumably in December, MEPs will decide on a reorganization of organ donation in the event of death. For Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn, CDU, so that is not enough done against the lack of donor organs.
"From my point of view, this is not over yet, so we have a debate on the subject of living donations," Spahn said after SPIEGEL information on Tuesday at an event organized by the Federal Association of Organ Transplantation. The association Spahn awarded a prize "for its commitment to organ donation in public".
Living donations: Limited to close relatives
According to the current legal situation, only close relatives and related persons are allowed to donate organs during their lifetime. Experts demand that such living donations be extended to a larger group of people. A discussion on this fundamental ethical question has been pushed for years, monized Spahn. Especially for kidney patients this question is important. After a decision for or against the so-called contradiction solution he wished therefore also a debate over living donations.
The vote in December concerns a bill that Spahn has submitted with a parliamentary group of MEPs. Their impetus for the introduction of the contradiction solution envisages that all people in the case of a brain death are considered as potential organ donors if they have not filed their opposition in an official register during their lifetime - and if their relatives have no objection.
The proposal is however controversial. A counterproposal wants that in the future the explicit consent to the organ donation is required and deposited in a register. It should be queried regularly, and doctors should explain it.
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