Seventeen lives saved by two organ donors

The decisions of those closest to Riley Baker and Brittany Arthur, both of whom died under tragic circumstances this week, highlight the absolute need for families to discuss their wishes regarding organ donation, says Kidney Health New Zealand chief executive Max Reid.

Riley Baker, 26, and Brittany Arthur, 20, died in Dunedin Hospital after a road accident and meningitis respectively. “According to media reports, each had clearly indicated to their family that, should they die under circumstances that allowed their organs to be donated, this was their wish – and that they expected their families to abide by that wish,” Mr Reid says.

Over recent months, as a result of the Ministry of Health releasing their document “Increasing Rates of Deceased Organ Donation” for public consultation, there has been both heightened awareness and interest in New Zealand’s currently low rate of deceased organ donation by international standards.

Some have called for the establishment of a stand-alone register of organ donors, as has been introduced in both Australia and the United Kingdom. However, in both countries, only around a third of the adult population have utilised such registers to record their intent to donate their organs upon their death. In New Zealand, the Driver Licence registration process is used as an alternative means to record an individual’s intent regarding organ donation. “In actual fact,” Mr Reid says, “that process has resulted in a higher rate of registration than in either Australia or the United Kingdom. Around 93% of adult New Zealanders hold a driver’s licence – and, of these, more than half have indicated their intent to donate their organs.”

“Of far greater importance, however, is making family members aware of that intent. It is that, rather than whatever form of register a country may use, that makes the difference – literally the difference between life and death,” Mr Reid says.

“For example, in Australia more than three-quarters of families consent to donating their deceased relative’s organs where there has previously been a conversation with that person around organ donation. Where no such conversation has been had, less than half of families give their consent.

“Such decisions have to be made by families in the most traumatic of circumstances. Yet the Intensive Care clinicians facilitating such a decision by family members acknowledge that such conversations about organ donation are significantly easier when families have previously discussed the issue.

“The Ministry of Health has yet to decide whether to improve New Zealand’s current Driver Licencing process as a means of recording deceased organ donor intent, or whether to establish a new and stand-alone register. Kidney Health New Zealand’s view, according to Mr Reid, is that, while the current system has its flaws, it would be far easier and cost-effective to improve it, than to replace it – particularly given that countries like Australia and the UK who have stand-alone registers have not achieved any higher rate of donor registration than the current New Zealand system.

“But let me reiterate the absolute importance of families having that conversation,” Mr Reid says – “being aware of each other’s intent to be an organ donor, and respecting that. As the last week has shown, though the lives of Riley Baker and Brittany Arthur have each been so tragically lost, through their decisions to be organ donors – and, as importantly, each family’s decision to support that commitment – seventeen other lives have been saved.”

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