Should Organ Donation Be Made Compulsory

Imagine, that you or one of your best friends become very ill. There is a change that you or that person will survive, but than you or your friend have to undergo an organ transplantation. Of course you want this. There are some risks but the operation is not very risky. And the change that you will survive with an organ transplantation is much higher, than that you will survive with your own organs. So you want this operation. But there is one problem: There is no donor…. But I have got the solution!!

I am going to tell you why organ donation should be made compulsory! Because there is a great shortage of donors in the Netherlands. I have a lot of reasons for that! But first I am going to tell you how the policy regarding to organ donation right now is in the Netherlands.

Every citizen of the Netherlands with a minimum age of 12, is able to register if he wants to be a donor or not in the Donor Registry. You can choose from 4 different options: *You want to be a donor

*You don’t want to be a donor
*My relatives have to decide if i will donate my organs
*One specific person has to decide if i will donate my organs

If you registered yourself you will receive a Donor Card. This card shows what choice you made. But this policy needs to change!
Now, with this policy, there are just 5.300.000 people registered. And of these there are 3.100.000 people donors. In my view is this just a small number of the people in our population. And this could be much more!

I am convinced that we should handle the same policy as in Belgium. In Belgium they have an Atomatic Donorship. This means that when you are 18 years old, you are automatic a donor. But if you don’t want to be a donor, you don’t have to be a donor. Then, when you don’t want to be a donor you have to register that. I think this policy is much better, Because:

– 70 per cent of the people want to be a donor but they are too lazy to register themselves. I think if we make everybody with the minimum age of 18, automatic donor we have a lot more donors, and the people who don’t want to be a donor, don’t have to be a donor. – much people don’t know very well what organ donation includes. And when we make everybody who is 18 automatic a donor, much more people will be interested in what organ donation includes, because they want to know what is going to happen with their body when they are dead. And then they know much more about organ donation, and they know much better if they want to be a donor or not. – Furthermore a lot of people who are dying, didn’t register themselve, and then the relatives have to decide if the organs may be used for donation or not.

This a very heavy decision for the relatives. And because a lot of relatives don’t know what the deceased would have wanted, 80 per cent of the relatives decided not to donate the organs of the deceased, because they think that is the best choice. Here can much profit be achieved. – It also has been proven in other countries that this policy is much more effective. – the waiting list will decrease, because there are more available donors – the numbers of persons who deceased because there were no available organs will decrease. – And it will also cause a progress in the medical science, because the doctors are able to do much more research.

So I think organ donation should be made compulsory!
And would it not be great if you can save a live by giving your organs, when you are already dead?!

Thank you all for listening!