Forty-four million Britons in favour of 'opt-out' organ donation

April 11, 2013 - PRLog -- A poll released today by the UK's leading independent health information website, Patient.co.uk, reveals that 71% of the UK population are in favour of switching to an 'opt-out' organ donation scheme of presumed consent.

In comparison, just 29% of the people surveyed, preferred our current organ donation system, which requires a donor to 'opt-in'

This follows today's announcement by NHS Blood and Transplant, which has revealed the number of people donating organs after death has risen 50% since 2008.

POLL INFOGRAPHIC: http://infogr.am/UK-Organ-Donation-Poll/

Organ Transplant Week, which takes place in July, is a yearly-awareness raising campaign to bring this topic into the hearts and minds of the UK public.

Commenting on last year's Organ Transplant Week via a post in her health and wellbeing blog on Patient.co.uk, Dr Sarah Jarvis gave her view this issue:

"Personally, I believe that the best way to deal with these shortages is to turn the present system on its head - from the present 'opt in' to an 'opt out' system, which many other countries already have. That doesn't for a moment remove the individual's choice. It simply means that, instead of having to choose actively to give consent for their organs to be used to help others if they die, people would be assumed not to object to giving their organs unless they sign a refusal, which could be logged centrally, in just the same way the present system is.'