Organ Donation: Does Presumed Consent Work?

November 20, 2015

(The Conversation) – In the last 30 years, almost every country in the European Union has implemented new organ donor laws that are either explicit consent or presumed consent. Studies have shown that countries with presumed consent have the highest deceased donation rates. Those studies, however, tend to compare the broad legal requirement: informed versus presumed consent. But each presumed consent law is unique. The key differences are described as ‘strong/hard’ to ‘weak/soft’, referring to what extent the deceased’s families are consulted by doctors.