New EU legislation offers hope to transplant patients
The EU has adopted new legislation that is set to improve the lives of people waiting for an organ transplant. Over the past 50 years, thousands of people worldwide have been given a new lease on life thanks to advances in transplant medicine. However, the demand for donor organs far outstrips the supply, and currently some 56,000 patients in the EU are on transplant waiting lists and 12 people die every day while waiting for a new organ. The aims of the new EU directive are to improve the chances of a patient receiving a new organ (especially in cases where a rare match is needed), and to enhance the safety of transplants in the EU. Measures in the directive designed to raise the prospects of receiving an organ include the introduction of quality and safety conditions; the standardised collection of the organ's characteristics; the establishment of a mechanism for the transmission of this information; and the creation of a mechanism for cross-border exchanges of organs to ensure the traceability of organs and the reporting of serious adverse events. The directive should also provide transplant patients with a greater degree of protection. Here, the legislation requires Member States to put in place quality and safety frameworks to monitor performance; set up an organ traceability system which ensures the anonymity of both donor and recipient; and take steps to collect information on 'serious adverse events' relating to the procurement, testing and transport of organs. In addition, Member States must set up a system for authorising organ procurement and transplant programmes based on shared quality and safety criteria. This system would provide public and health professionals with a full list of authorised centres throughout the EU. Finally, Member States are obliged to ensure that all organ donations are unpaid and voluntary. Governments have two years to implement the new rules. The new legislation was adopted just weeks after the publication of a new Eurobarometer survey on organ donation and transplantation. Worryingly, the results of the poll suggest that Europeans' willingness to donate their own organs or consent to the donation of a deceased relative's organs may be levelling off. According to Eurobarometer, 55% of those polled said they were willing to donate their own organs after death; in the 2006 survey this figure was 56%. More than a quarter (27%) are against the idea of donating their organs. Just over half (53%) said they would be willing to consent to the organs of a close family member being taken for transplant. There is a lot of variation between Member States, with Sweden (83%), Malta (77%), and Belgium and Finland (both 72%) showing the highest levels of willingness to donate. According to the survey, there is a strong correlation between discussing donation with members of one's family and willingness to donate. 'It is not surprising, then, that as discussion levels have 'plateaued' between 2006 and 2009, so has willingness to consent to donate one's own organs,' the report concludes. Other factors influencing willingness to donate include education level, age (those aged over 55 tend to be less willing to donate) and financial hardship.