Should families be able to overrule your wishes on organ donation?

Share your views for Organ Donation Week

It’s Organ Donation Week in the UK, a campaign that aims to get more people to join the organ donor list.

Despite large campaigns, there is still a shortage of people signing up and putting their names on the NHS donor register.

The NHS has said people are dying needlessly while waiting for a transplant, and if more people talked about it and agreed to donate, many of those lives would be saved.

The simple act of registering can make your wishes known – you can also register that you would not like your organs donated.

Even if your name is on the register, your family can still be a barrier to donating your organs, as they must ultimately give their consent for a transplant to go ahead.

Since April 2010 more than 500 families in the UK have said no to organ donation, despite knowing or being informed their relative was on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

25-year-old Tom Shing was saved by a pioneering heart transplant two years ago, and this year is urging people to join the register.

“The question is, would you be willing to take a donor organ for yourself, your husband, wife, son or daughter?” he said.

“If yes, then you should be willing to sign up and put yourself on the organ donor register.”

Do you think families should be able to overrule your wishes about organ donation if you have joined the registry? What about in instances where you would choose not to donate your organs – should your family be able to donate them anyway?