Hong Kong urged to clarify legal issues before launching opt-out organ donation scheme
City should first legislate on the definition of brain death, HKU professor says
Hong Kong is not yet ready for an opt-out organ donation scheme as legal issues and further medical matters need to clarified, an expert in the field says.
Terry Kaan Sheung-hung, co-director of the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, issued the caution as health minister Dr Ko Wing-man revealed that the government was thinking about introducing an opt-out scheme to increase the transplant rate.
Under such a system a person would be considered a willing donor upon their death unless stating an objection in advance.
The organ donation rate in Hong Kong is among the lowest in the world, with only 5.8 in every million people donating in 2015, compared with 39.7 in Spain. By the end of March more than 248,000 people had registered at the centralised organ donation register.
Kaan said the city should first legislate the definition of brain death, a condition in which a person’s brain no longer functioned but the heart might continue to beat with the support of a ventilator.