§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give his best estimate of the number of people each year classified as brain-dead and certified as dead; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyIn 1982 it was estimated that about 2,000 patients die in the United Kingdom each year in circumstances where brain death might be diagnosed. The total number of all deaths in the United Kingdom in 1984, the most recent year for which figures are available, was 564,966. Patients who are diagnosed as brain dead may be suitable as organ donors. As part of our campaign to increase the numbers of donor organs becoming available for transplantation, we are considering supporting a study which would seek to establish how many brain deaths occur and what might be done to increase the proportion where organ donation procedures are initiated.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consideration he has given to the concept of required request in relation to hospital doctors requesting consent for the removal of any organs for transplant; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyI am informed that in some American states doctors attending patients who are diagnosed as brain dead are required by law either to ensure that requests for organ donation are made to the relatives, or to satisfy themselves that there are good reasons why such requests should not be made. In this country whether to remove organs from a brain-dead patient is a clinical matter for the doctors concerned, and I do not think it would be acceptable to make this subject to legal requirements. It might be possible to achieve similar results by means of a voluntary code of practice, but this124W would be a matter for the medical profession, and we are currently discussing the possibility with its representative bodies.