ORGAN transplants do not just save lives: they offer hope and happiness to the terminally ill and their families. But the question of organ donations can add to the grief and suffering of families who have lost sons or daughters, husbands or wives. Close relatives are unlikely to feel comfortable considering requests to dissect their loved one's body. Such a situation would be likely to deepen a relative's distress in any society. It is even worse in a society such as Hong Kong, where traditional beliefs in reincarnation are still held by many old people.
This reluctance on the part of relatives is one reason why only 273 patients received transplants last year, while 1,150 were forced to wait. Refining the process of organ donations should help to relieve grieving relatives of unnecessary suffering while potentially ending the agony of those on the waiting list for organs.
The move by the Health and Welfare Branch this week to prevent relatives overriding the wishes of potential donors is a step in the right direction. A grieving relative is not the best person to make a rational decision about transplants. However, the size of the waiting list for organs suggests more should be done. If it proves impossible to find more people willing to opt into organ-donor schemes, the Government should think again about an 'opt-out' system, whereby people who do not wish to donate their organs should say so. It might also be possible to include donor information on identity cards.
