Kidney Transplant Bill [HL]

I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, on bringing the Bill to the House. As the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, said, many bodies, patient organisations and professionals are calling for action on the organ transplant situation in this country. Indeed, the Liberal Democrats passed a motion calling for presumed consent at our annual conference in 2002. I have a donor card—I have carried it for many years—and I am on the register. I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, that it is extremely easy to register. You do not need any numbers; you do not have to find your credit card; you do not have to look for anything. You can just tap in in a matter of seconds. I trust that he will do so. I sometimes think that I am too ancient to be of any use to anyone, but you never know; when I am dead someone might find a use for me. We have heard about the problem. I will not reiterate the statistics, because many noble Lords have told us what they are. We know also from the noble Baroness, Lady Verma—I was very interested in her contribution—what a problem this is, particularly for the Asian community. I know that because I worked in Southall as a doctor for about 15 years. It is a huge problem for that community. We know that people die waiting for transplants and that the majority of people in this country want more organs to be available for donation—and yet they are not. Why is that? We have heard many important speeches on this subject today but not enough have dwelt on the emotional aspects of it, although certainly the speech of the noble, Baroness, Lady Golding, did. As I said, I have carried a donor card for years. My husband and I, who are both doctors, have often discussed the issue and my children and their spouses are all in favour of organ donation. It is an accepted thing in our family. Indeed, the daughter of a close friend had her life transformed by a kidney transplant about 10 years ago. The speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Golding, left me feeling chastened and I have decided to tell my own story and to make a confession to the House. My daughter died after an electrical accident in her kitchen three years ago. She was rushed to the local casualty department and great attempts were made to resuscitate her. Sadly, she was not resuscitated. But it was over a year later that my husband, my children, my daughter’s husband and I suddenly thought, ““Could she have donated organs?””. It took that long and I feel quite ashamed that it did not occur to us at the hospital. We certainly were not approached by any of the doctors in the department who had worked so hard to try to resuscitate her. This is the point at which we do not connect in this country and why the Bill is so important. It is almost impossible for exhausted doctors suddenly to think, ““I have to talk about organ donation””. It certainly never crossed my mind, yet I had my bag with me with my donor card in it. That is the important factor that we must consider. Many relatives have found themselves in this position. For me it would have been a great comfort to know—it should be the same for other relatives—that the person whom I had created had given life to someone else. We must put that message out in our publicity. I think that it was the noble Lord, Lord Hughes, who drew attention to the publicity that the Prime Minister achieved for the issue earlier this week. I, too, congratulate the Prime Minister. It has been a wonderful week for getting the debate going. The Department of Health task force reported this week with measures that it hopes will increase the number of organs offered for donation, but it will be the summer before it reports on the subject of this elegant Bill, the presumed consent for donation. Organs will be taken from a suitable dead person by the transplant teams unless specific instructions have been left not to permit it or the relatives object. These are simple safeguards. There will be no coercion; the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, should be comforted by that. It will of course be subject, as the noble Lords, Lord Rea and Lord Elder, pointed out, to suitable staff being on site in all trusts to make sure that this happens. The noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, was not happy that we should confine this Bill to kidneys. I think that it is an elegant Bill because it does confine itself to kidneys. Another of the emotional aspects that we have not discussed very much is that people do not get too emotional about their kidneys. They may get emotional about their heart—although, perhaps, medical people do not, because for them it is a pump that, we hope, works for as long as we want it to—and some of my children are emotional and sensitive about their cornea and about their eyes being used for transplant. I keep explaining to them that it will not be until after they are dead, but one of them said, ““Oh no, I can’t bear eyes””—they get funny about it. However, you do not get that reaction to kidneys. Everyone knows someone who needs a kidney transplant; everyone reads about the trade in kidneys to which the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, referred; and everyone knows that we have two kidneys and that if we remove one we can perfectly well go on living with the remaining one. So people are not emotional about kidneys. The Bill is elegant because the subject is confined to a single set of organs; people can debate it freely and not get upset when they talk about it. If the Bill passed through Parliament, that would increase the debate on organ transplants generally and, I hope, prepare the way for the Government to introduce presumed consent for all organ donation. That is the way we should go. It is a much more positive and active approach to organ donation than simply waiting. Let us do this in stages. This happens already in Spain, as we heard from the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, but we have not heard the statistic that in Spain 33.8 organs per million of the population are donated, whereas in the UK the figure is 12.9—one-third of the amount in Spain. Eighty-five per cent of relatives approached in Spain confirm that they do not mind their relative’s organ being used; only 15 per cent refuse permission. That is a useful statistic to keep in mind. The gift of life to another must be the greatest legacy that we can leave when we die, apart from our own children and grandchildren. The Bill is at least the beginning of the process of raising public awareness and at most, if passed, would save thousands of lives. I beg your Lordships to support it.