Brown won't rule out "presumed consent" for donors

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday he would not rule out bringing in a "presumed consent" scheme for organ donation, even though it was rejected by a team of experts set up by the government to look at the issue.

The Organ Donation Taskforce had earlier said that evidence from across the world indicated that such a scheme, which would effectively make everyone a potential donor unless they choose to opt out, would not improve donation rates.

Elizabeth Buggins, the Taskforce chairman, added a presumed consent scheme would erode trust in doctors and divert attention away from effective measures. The "concept of gift," she said, was very important to recipient and donor families.

But Brown told reporters: "While they are not recommending the introduction of a presumed consent system as I have done, I am not ruling out a further change in the law.

"The proposal is that we double the number of volunteers to 50 percent. If we cannot get there quickly then we will return to the proposal that I have put forward which is that you have a presumed consent system."

More than 9,000 people need an organ transplant in Britain according to figures from the British Medical Association and hundreds die each year waiting for a suitable donor.

Britain has one of the lowest rates of organ donation, at just 13 per million of population compared with 35 per million in Spain where a "presumed consent" system operates.

"But the person who made that happen in Spain says presumed consent is irrelevant," Buggins told BBC radio.