Switzerland adopts self-determination for organ donation

GENEVA | As many in Quebec would like, the Swiss accepted Sunday at the polls the proposal to increase organ donations by switching to the model of presumed consent as in France.

Switzerland adopts self-determination for organ donation

GENEVA | As many in Quebec would like, the Swiss accepted Sunday at the polls the proposal to increase organ donations by switching to the model of presumed consent as in France.

• Read also: Organ donations: the Swiss vote on presumed consent

• Read also: A woman is looking for a kidney donor on the internet

• Read also: Automatic consent for organ donation in Quebec?

According to the final result of the referendum, 60.20% of voters accepted the amendment to the law on transplantation. Until now, a person who wanted to donate their organs had to give their consent during their lifetime. From now on, in order not to give them, it will be necessary to indicate it explicitly.

Currently, it is up to relatives to decide, except that in the majority of cases, about 60%, they oppose organ donation, say the authorities.

Over the past five years, an average of around 450 people per year in Switzerland have received one or more organs removed from deceased persons.

Last year, 72 patients died while waiting for a donation, according to the national foundation Swisstransplant.

According to the Swiss authorities, most European nations apply presumed consent, and record on average a higher percentage of donations than in their country.

In France, this law has existed since 1976 and citizens are therefore presumed to be organ donors.

Petition in Quebec

In Quebec too, the question of self-determination is gaining ground. On April 14, a new petition was tabled in the National Assembly asking the government to modernize the reform concerning organ and tissue donation.

As in Switzerland and France, the petition asks that people who do not wish to consent to donation have the possibility of making their refusal known by means of a register.

On the other side of the Atlantic, 460,000 French people out of its 67 million inhabitants are registered on the national register of refusals.

-With Clara Loiseau, Le Journal de Montreal


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