Doctors called for more commitment to organ donation

Patient Association: More commitment from doctors
required for organ donation

04/11/2014

Patient representatives have demanded more involvement in hospitals for organ donation. Those responsible in the clinics should finally implement the amended transplantation law. In Germany, around 11,000 people are waiting for a life-saving organ.

More commitment required in the hospitals
In the hospitals is provided by the patient self-help association „Liver transplanted Germany e.V.“ more commitment to organ donation required. Federal Chairman Jutta Riemer told the news agency dpa: „Doctors, nurses and nursing staff should of course seek to talk to their relatives about organ donation in patients who are facing brain death.“ The expert continued: „These are of course very serious and unpleasant discussions, but that would help a lot of people.“

Law must finally be implemented
For the 10th Annual Congress of the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO), which will take place in Frankfurt am Main on 3 and 4 November, Riemer called on Monday for those responsible in the federal states to finally implement the amended transplantation law. The Federal Chairman reminded: „The transplant officials in the hospitals must be appointed, the exemptions for their activities regulated and provided for their sufficient funding.“ Among the individual federal states, Hesse was the leader in its implementation.

Donor organs can save lives
Nationwide, around 11,000 seriously ill patients are waiting for a donor organ that could possibly save their lives. However, the willingness to donate in Germany is steadily declining. Experts say this is related to, among other things, the various transplant scandals of the past. However, citizens' confidence may not have suffered as much because, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) a few months ago, 68 percent of Germans agreed to donate their organs after death. However, only 28 percent of Germans have an organ donor card. (Ad)