by Connor McCleskey

Posted on September 17, 2013

Following the passage of legislation in the Welsh assembly, people in Wales will now be assumed to have consented to organ donation after their death unless they specifically opt out. Due to be implemented in December 2015, the Welsh government estimates that this policy will increase transplant rates by as much as 25%. First Minister Carwyn Jones described the act as the “most significant piece of legislation passed by the National Assembly for Wales” since it gained the ability to create and pass its own laws in 2011. However, legislature is still subject to royal approval, which it received on Tuesday, September 10th.

Currently, the UK has a uniform policy where willing participants are issued cards expressing their assent to organ donation. Though the need for organs in Wales is relatively low, the organs received from Welsh citizens could be transplanted to anyone on the National Health Service’s transplant list. According to the NHS, about 250 people are currently on transplant lists, and 33 people in Wales died in the past year while awaiting a transplant.

The next step for the Welsh legislature is an extensive public information program in the run-up to the bill taking force. Though the bill was passed with relatively wide support, the bill has still been a controversial subject in the small European country.

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