The decisions of those closest to Riley Baker and Brittany Arthur, both of whom died under tragic circumstances this
week, highlight the absolute need for families to discuss their wishes regarding organ donation, says Kidney Health New
Zealand chief executive Max Reid.
Riley Baker, 26, and Brittany Arthur, 20, died in Dunedin Hospital after a road accident and meningitis respectively.
“According to media reports, each had clearly indicated to their family that, should they die under circumstances that
allowed their organs to be donated, this was their wish – and that they expected their families to abide by that wish,”
Mr Reid says.
Over recent months, as a result of the Ministry of Health releasing their document “Increasing Rates of Deceased Organ
Donation” for public consultation, there has been both heightened awareness and interest in New Zealand’s currently low
rate of deceased organ donation by international standards.
Some have called for the establishment of a stand-alone register of organ donors, as has been introduced in both
Australia and the United Kingdom. However, in both countries, only around a third of the adult population have utilised
such registers to record their intent to donate their organs upon their death. In New Zealand, the Driver Licence
registration process is used as an alternative means to record an individual’s intent regarding organ donation. “In
actual fact,” Mr Reid says, “that process has resulted in a higher rate of registration than in either Australia or the
United Kingdom. Around 93% of adult New Zealanders hold a driver’s licence – and, of these, more than half have
indicated their intent to donate their organs.”
“Of far greater importance, however, is making family members aware of that intent. It is that, rather than whatever
form of register a country may use, that makes the difference – literally the difference between life and death,” Mr
Reid says.
“For example, in Australia more than three-quarters of families consent to donating their deceased relative’s organs
where there has previously been a conversation with that person around organ donation. Where no such conversation has
been had, less than half of families give their consent.
“Such decisions have to be made by families in the most traumatic of circumstances. Yet the Intensive Care clinicians
facilitating such a decision by family members acknowledge that such conversations about organ donation are
significantly easier when families have previously discussed the issue.
“The Ministry of Health has yet to decide whether to improve New Zealand’s current Driver Licencing process as a means
of recording deceased organ donor intent, or whether to establish a new and stand-alone register. Kidney Health New
Zealand’s view, according to Mr Reid, is that, while the current system has its flaws, it would be far easier and
cost-effective to improve it, than to replace it – particularly given that countries like Australia and the UK who have
stand-alone registers have not achieved any higher rate of donor registration than the current New Zealand system.
“But let me reiterate the absolute importance of families having that conversation,” Mr Reid says – “being aware of each
other’s intent to be an organ donor, and respecting that. As the last week has shown, though the lives of Riley Baker
and Brittany Arthur have each been so tragically lost, through their decisions to be organ donors – and, as importantly,
each family’s decision to support that commitment – seventeen other lives have been saved.”
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