Hansard

I, too, am very pleased that George Foulkes has secured the debate at a time when the issue of organ donation and transplantation is rapidly moving up the political agenda. As a number of colleagues already know, the issue is of particular interest to me as the mother of a son who had a successful liver transplant very nearly 16 years ago.

After eight years of abnormal liver function due to chronic auto-immune hepatitis—and before he was considered for transplantation—my son's liver failed suddenly after a septicaemic episode. He went into a comatose state for nearly a week, following which a lightening of consciousness presented a window of opportunity for an urgent transplant, without which he would certainly have died. He was lucky, as he received a suitable donor liver within four days, and I am now the very happy granny of two lovely children who I never dreamed I would see during my son's dark teenage years of steadily deteriorating health.

I wish that it was possible to convey to those whose tragedies have allowed people such as my son to live a new, normal life the enormous value of their generous sacrifice and the happiness and fulfilment that it has given to the recipients of their loved one's organs. Believe me, my family's gratitude knows no bounds, and none of us would hesitate to consent to donation should the situation arise.

There is an urgent need to increase organ donation until there is a cure for the underlying conditions that lead to end-stage organ disease or until research allows the growth of completely new organs.

I was on the Health Committee when the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill went through Parliament, and I thought that its provisions would lead to a significantly enhanced rate of donation. Sadly, so far that has not happened, and I am increasingly coming round to the view that it may yet be necessary to progress to a situation in which consent is presumed. There would, of course, have to be safeguards to respect the wishes of those who do not want to be donors or who do not want their relatives to be donors. Many ethical and moral issues must be considered, but there has to be a serious debate. I think that we probably all agree on that.

In the meantime, I hope that the proposals put forward last week by the organ donation task force will achieve the result that it predicts, and I look forward to the outcome of its follow-up investigation into the pros and cons of presumed consent.

An existing problem, which I believe needs to be dealt with, is that of elective ventilation of brain-dead patients in order to preserve their organs for possible transplantation. The fact that, thanks to technology, brain death can now be diagnosed very quickly when a patient is admitted to hospital has resulted in the loss of healthy organs, because the elective ventilation of a person known to be brain dead solely for the purpose of possible transplantation is not currently permitted by law—I presume that that applies equally to people on the donor register.

A retired friend and colleague who did many renal transplants during his career told me that the early diagnosis of brain death has had a significant impact on the availability of organs. That is sad, because many of the people admitted to accident and emergency with mortal head injuries are young and otherwise very healthy.

Conversely, it is not uncommon to find that the organ function of those who survive into intensive care but who die later has been compromised by ventilation and intensive treatment to the extent that their organs are not suitable for transplantation. My friend is strongly of the view that the elective ventilation of brain-dead patients for the sole purpose of transplantation, coupled with a soft opt-out law, would be of immense benefit to our society. He believes strongly that many people who are dying at present for want of available organs would be saved. I hope that the matter will be looked at carefully during the consideration of any possible change to the law on organ donation.

I am pleased that the issue has come to the fore. I hope that it will not be too long before a means is found to acquire the organs that are so desperately needed by the many people who are awaiting them and those who will require them in future—who could be any one of us or any member of our families.