Viewers of the "heute" journal may have been surprised on Monday evening when Annalena Baerbock said in an interview with Claus Kleber: "I'm registered as a donor." Because so far there is no official register, in which data from organ donor passes are recorded. Did Baerbock swindle? "No," said a spokesman for the Greens chairman on request: It is a regrettable slip of the tongue. According to his own statement Baerbock but has an organ donor card.
The blunder fits in with the uncertainties that characterize the discussion about organ donation. According to surveys, while 81 percent of Germans are positive about organ donation. But only 32 percent have completed an organ donor card. There are many reasons for this discrepancy. Many simply do not want to think about their own death or do not know what they have to do to become organ donors.
For people waiting for a life-saving organ, that's a problem. In Germany there are currently about 10,450 patients on the waiting list for a donor organ, many will wait in vain. Last year, only 3599 transplants were made.
In Germany, therefore, just two legislative proposals are being discussed:
- A bipartisan group around Baerbock calls for a donor registry. Accordingly, authorities should ask whether someone wants to be registered as an organ donor or not - for example, if the one applies for an identity card. The decision will then be recorded in a donation register.
- The counter-proposal by Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach goes even further. They demand a contradiction solution, according to which everyone becomes an organ donor who has not objected during his lifetime. In case of doubt, the survivors should be allowed to decide on an organ donation.
What does a contradiction solution mean for those affected?
The contradiction solution is expected to attract more people to potential organ donors. Patients who need an organ would have a higher chance of survival. At the same time, those who do not want to donate must become active. According to current plans, the decision should be recorded in a register, first at the doctor and later online. The entries can be changed at any time, assure Spahn and Lauterbach. A large information campaign is also planned, in which all those who are subject to notification from the age of 16 are to be contacted three times.
Which roles do the survivors then play?
If someone comes as an organ donor in question, doctors should in the future in the organ donor register check whether the one who spoke out against organ donation during his lifetime. If there is no application in the register, the next relative should be asked if there are indications that the deceased was against organ donation. This could be, for example, an organ donor card on which this is noted or even a formless piece of paper. Decisive here is the will of the deceased. The previous decision-making rights of the survivors should be deleted.
If the potential organ donor is a minor, the parents or guardians usually have to decide. For people who can not recognize the implications of such a decision - for example, because of a mental disability -, organ donation should in principle be inadmissible.
What must people do now who want to donate organs?
Whether it actually comes to a contradiction is unclear. The decision is expected to drag on for months and is open to parliamentary groups. That is, the members of the Bundestag decide at their own discretion, regardless of their party affiliation. Already, both plans are supported by all parties.
Anyone who wants to hold on to donate organs should fill out an organ donor card and carry it with them. The passes are available from pharmacies, doctors or can be ordered or downloaded here. On the ID card individual organs and tissues can be excluded from the donation. The decision to donate organs can also be made in a living will. On the other hand, a will is not suitable because it is only opened when it is already too late for an organ donation.
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What if I do not want to donate organs?
Even those who do not want to donate organs can clearly indicate this on the organ donor card. The same applies to the living will. If it actually comes to a contradiction solution, those affected would have to become active and register their decision in the planned register.
Many countries already have a contradiction solution regardless of their nationality . If a German dies, for example, in Spain, he or she can automatically become an organ donor or organ donor. If you do not want to do that, you should fill out an organ donor card in your local language before your holiday and then exclude a donation.
Is a brain toter really dead?
A brain-dead person can no longer perceive, feel or decide. And that irretrievably. A return to life is impossible . Even with artificial respiration, the brain tissue is completely degraded. "With the diagnosis of brain death, the death of humans is certainly detected," it says on the page of the Federal Center for Health Education.
Some ethicists do not recognize brain death as a definitive death because some processes continue to function independently of the brain, such as the immune system. But it's all about a philosophical question. However, the German Ethics Council agrees that organ donation is permissible in the case of brain death.
In the case of organ donation, two physicians must independently detect brain death, which should not be involved in subsequent collection or transplantation. The diagnostic procedure is clearly regulated. If used correctly, confusion with a coma, for example, is ruled out.