Federal Government calls for organ donation

Inquiry about readiness for organ donation should be provided by health insurances

02.03.2012

Since Thursday (March 1) it is clear: From summer there should be a new regulation in the organ donation question. After a long debate with many setbacks, top representatives and specialist politicians of all parliamentary groups as well as the federal government agreed that the insured persons should be questioned in writing by both statutory and private health insurers every two years after their organ donation readiness.

Organ donor readiness should be stated every two years
Starting in the summer, the health insurance companies are asked to check the organ donation readiness of their insured persons every two years. For this purpose, a questionnaire with organ donor card will be sent. Insured persons can specify in detail whether and, if so, which organs should be donated after the onset of brain death. Answering the questions is voluntary. Thus, it is up to every citizen to ignore the bow and organ donor card, if he does not want to give any information on his organ donation readiness. With this new query system experts hope for a significant increase in the willingness to donate. If it is technically feasible, the information should also be found in an electronic field on the electronic health card. The willingness to donate could be registered by the insured person himself or have this done by the doctor or the health insurance company.

According to a survey, three-quarters of Germans are prepared to donate one or more organs. So far, however, only a quarter of an organ donor card, as adults have to actively give their consent. Instead of a donation card, a clear statement to the relatives can be made. If there is no clear written or oral testimony on organ donation, relatives must take that decision for the person affected, which is currently the case in nine out of ten brain deaths. Since these are emotionally overwhelmed in such a situation, the decision is often against an organ donation for fear of doing something against the will of the deceased, from.

So far, little willingness to donate organs in Germany
The willingness to donate so far is so low, among other things, because many people still believe that doctors would not care enough in an emergency to save their lives in order to remove the organs. According to a survey by the Barmer and Bertelsmann Foundation, 45 percent of Germans fear this. Of course, doctors are always obliged to take all measures to save lives. In addition, organ donation is only possible if two doctors independently of each other have detected the brain death of a person. Only then can the liver, kidney, heart, lungs, pancreas and small intestine be donated.

Currently around 12,000 people in Germany need an organ donation. Without a transplant, they can not survive despite dialysis, heart pump and other measures. Last year, 4054 people received a donor organ. In 2010 there were 4326 patients. It is easy to see from these figures that there are far fewer organs available than are urgently needed. According to the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO), a human being listed on the waiting list for organ donation dies about every eight hours. 14.6 donors currently come to one million citizens in Germany. This puts the Federal Republic internationally in the lower third. A human can donate up to seven seriously ill organs.

Living donations are only possible in exceptional cases
Healthy people can donate organs only in exceptional cases. This would be the case, for example, when a close relative desperately needs a kidney and no other donor organ is available. Due to the lack of organs, an increase in living donations has been recorded in recent years. A prominent example is SPD parliamentary leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who donated a kidney to his wife in 2010.

Basically, organ donations are not paid in Germany. This is the case, among other things, to prevent trade in organs, in which always the poorest are the losers. Potential organ donors are people who have died of brain damage before cardiac arrest. Of these, only about one percent of the approximately 400,000 people who die in clinics in the Federal Republic are affected annually. Brain death is the state in which the human brain no longer exhibits any currents or reflexes. The heart only beats on the ICU due to artificial respiration. Strokes, traumatic brain injury, and cerebral hemorrhage are common causes of brain death.

Eurotransplant is responsible for the allocation of the organs
Germany is a member of the Eurotransplant Foundation, which is also responsible for allocating the organs in Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Slovenia. Eurotransplant, based in Leiden, is in constant contact with national companies, transplant centers, laboratories and hospitals. Four aspects are crucial in the decision to donate organs: the chances of success of a transplant, the urgency, the duration of the wait, and the national organ exchange balance. In Germany, transplantation is coordinated by the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO) in Frankfurt.

More Germans ready for organ donation than expected
A representative survey of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Barmer GEK in April 2011 showed that the willingness to donate in Germany is higher than the real number of transplantation would expect. 1778 persons were interrogated among other things for their readiness to donate organs. 69 percent of the respondents said that a new regulation on organ donation will increase the general willingness to donate. Sixty-two percent of respondents said that they would most likely actually agree to donate organs. Of the respondents who do not yet have an organ donor card, 60 percent would likely or certainly agree to donate organs. (Ag)

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Picture: Günther Richter