Proposed plans to change organ donation policy in Wales from voluntary donation to presumed consent have been criticised by church leaders.
The current policy requires people to volunteer their organs by registering on an organ donor list. Wales currently has a deceased organ donation rate of 27.7 per million people, a figure that is higher than the UK average (16.3 per million people) and also higher than many other European countries.
The Welsh government are currently holding an all party consultation on changing the policy to a presumed consent policy. Presumed consent automatically assumes people have agreed to donate their organs, but anyone can choose to opt out. It is backed by organisations such as the British Medical Association, British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, British Lung Foundation, and the Welsh Kidney Patients Association.
However, the proposals have been criticised as ‘ill judged’ by a joint statement from the Roman Catholic Church in Wales, the Church in Wales and the Wales Orthodox Mission.
The statement argues that the positive ethos that is organ donation is under threat and that their recommendation to scrap the rule change is to ‘preserve the dignity and autonomy of every person whilst creating a proper framework in which the gift of human organs after death is precisely that, an act of solidarity, generosity and love.’
The Welsh government have welcomed the contribution from the Churches and are calling for as many people as possible to join the debate.