§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give his Department's best estimate of the percentage of the population who (a) take kidney donor cards, (b) fill in kidney donor cards and (c) carry kidney donor cards; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyA Gallup poll conducted on behalf of the British Kidney Patient Association in January this year suggested that 21 per cent. of the population carried an organ donor card and that a further 7 per cent. had an organ donor card which they were not carrying at the time. We would like all people who are willing for their kidneys and other organs to be used for transplantation after their death to sign and carry a donor card and to let their relatives know.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if any assessment has been made of the number of occasions in which the next-of-kin of dead persons have expressed regret at not having been asked permission to remove the organs of the dead person for transplant purposes; if he will consider commissioning a short inquiry to research such donor organ losses; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyWe are not aware of any such assessment. The decision whether organs are to be removed from cadavers is a clinical one for the doctors concerned, but nevertheless it is helpful if relatives inform the doctors if they know that a dead person wished to be an organ donor. I informed the hon. Member in my reply of 4 March, at column123, of a study which we are considering supporting.