Every week, one or two people die while waiting for an organ donation. The new law which wants to change the system will make it possible to save lives, affirmed Monday in Bern an interparty committee for the vote of May 15.
The new law leads to a move to the principle of presumed consent: anyone who does not wish to donate their organs after their death will now have to indicate this explicitly. Today, the opposite principle prevails.
“This is a pragmatic solution to meet a need: to increase the rate of organ donations in Switzerland,” stressed National Councilor Flavia Wasserfallen (PS/BE), co-president of a committee which includes representatives of all major parties.
In 2021, 1434 people were on the waiting list. On average, affected people wait for a heart, lung or liver for about a year. The waiting time is about three years for a kidney. Some people wait more than seven years.
For the director general of the CHUV Philippe Eckert, “this long waiting time often results in the state of health of patients deteriorating so much that they find themselves almost at the end of their life, before receiving the organ that they need. save the life.”
No automation
“The principle of presumed consent in the broad sense is not an automatic organ donation”, recalled the national councilor UDC Friborg Pierre-André Page. People who do not wish to donate their organs can explicitly state this or inform their relatives.
The interview with relatives as it currently exists is maintained. Presumed consent will, however, facilitate the decision in the trying moment of mourning, continued Pierre-André Page.