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Organ donation act revisited Range Lake MLA Dolynny happy with plans to change legislation
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 14, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Rules surrounding organ donors in the NWT will get another look this fall after MLAs approved a motion last week to reexamine the territory's Human Tissues Act.
Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny has been pushing for improvement on the NWT's Human Tissue Act including a provision for putting organ donor status on health cards and driver's licences. The motion was approved by MLAs to revise the act on June 6. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo |
Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny has been working on the motion for the last two years, gathering research on donation programs across Canada and in other countries.
The motion was carried with 100 per cent approval from the members of the legislature, which pleased Dolynny.
"This is fundamentally the best piece of information I've heard from them since undertaking this project," he said.
Currently, residents of the NWT can sign an organ donor card and carry it with them, labeling themselves as a donor. However, families of donors can reject the donor's choice to give up their organs, and the donor would need to be in an environment where organs could be harvested safely.
As of February 2013, the Department of Health and Social Services reported seven NWT residents were on the waiting list for organ donations. Canadian Blood Services states on its website that in 2011, 4,543 patients in Canada awaited organ transplants, 2,124 transplants were performed, and 265 patients died while waiting for a transplant.
Hospitals in the NWT are unable to receive organ and tissue donations. Instead, retrieval teams are sent from the Human Organ Procurement and Exchange Foundation in Edmonton to collect organs donated from the territory.
"There are so many shortcomings to the current act that it's almost ineffective," Dolynny said.
Dolynny told Yellowknifer the first thing the government needs to do is define who is liable regarding donations, whether it be the sole choice of the donor or the family.
Next would be planning a database in NWT for organ donors, including the potential use of health care cards and driver's licences to inform health workers if a person is a donor.
He also mentioned a potential 'opt out' system that is being used in other countries worldwide where everyone is considered a donor unless they expressly register themselves as non-donors.
"There will have to be something, not in the act per se, but in the regulation process," said Dolynny. "It will have to addressed eventually because an opt-out system is paramount."
Nancy Potts, whose husband Gary died in April while awaiting a liver transplant, said an opt-out system as opposed to an opt-in system would be the ultimate solution.
She said she was pleased to hear the motion was carried forward by MLAs.
"It's great that we're doing something because we're such a progressive territory," said Potts.
Potts said while it was a good start, she wanted to know what the MLAs thoughts were on the issue and what they were going to come up with.
She agreed with Dolynny that many things need to change but said she is confident he can get the ball rolling.
"I truly think that he, and we, can make a difference," she said.
Fact file
Waiting for
organ donation
* As of February 2013, the Department of Health and Social Services reported seven NWT residents were on the waiting list for organ donations.
* Canadian Blood Services states on its website that in 2011, 4,543 patients in Canada awaited organ transplants, 2,124 transplants were performed, and 265 patients died while waiting for a transplant.
Source: Department of Health and Social Services, Canadian Blood Services
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