Proposal: Deceased organ donors will not need to seek family consent

Experts are proposing to add a regulation that if a person has registered to donate organs before death, then after being determined to be brain dead or heart dead, medical facilities can proceed to take tissues and organs without further consent from the family.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan speaks at the workshop to collect opinions on amending the Law on Donation, Removal, Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs and Cadaver Donation - Photo: D.LIEU

On June 27, the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation held a workshop to collect comments on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Donation, Removal, and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs and Corpse Donation.

According to Mr. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health , the current Law on Donation, Removal and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs, passed by the National Assembly in 2006, has created a foundation for Vietnam to perform more than 9,500 organ transplants in the past nearly 20 years.

However, the current law has revealed many shortcomings such as the very low rate of organ donation from brain-dead people, the complicated registration process, the lack of a synchronous financial mechanism, and the lack of specific regulations on transparent coordination and allocation of organs.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Khoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), said that this revised draft also proposes to simplify the brain death diagnosis process, shorten the time to avoid losing the opportunity for organ transplant; build a professional and modern donation and transplant coordination system and apply digital technology to manage the waiting list, connect national data, ensure fairness, humanity and prevent organ commercialization.

Specifically, the draft sets out clear principles in coordinating human tissue and organ transplants, prioritizing emergency cases, children, and people waiting for transplants where there are donors, then other cases according to the national list.

The goal is to optimize organ utilization while maintaining transparency and equity.

One of the notable points is that the draft adds a regulation that if a person has registered to donate tissues and organs before death, then after being determined to be brain dead or heart dead, medical facilities can proceed to collect tissues and organs without further consent from the family.

In case there is no card to donate human tissues or organs after death, the collection of human tissues or organs must have the written consent of the representative or legal guardian of the donor who has been declared brain dead.

According to experts, this change aims to absolutely respect the wishes of donors, reduce procedural problems, and conform to international practices.

The new bill also proposes extending organ donation rights to people under 18 in cases of brain death or cardiac death, subject to written consent from a legal representative.

This is an important opening point that can increase the source of precious organs, saving the lives of many patients waiting for transplants.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-xuat-nguoi-dang-ky-hien-tang-qua-doi-se-khong-can-xin-them-y-kien-gia-dinh-20250627154809036.htm