Health Bill [HL]

I shall be brief. I wish to add my support for the amendment and to make one point about its wording. Noble Lords will know, because I have spoken about it before, about the experience of my friends who lost their only child at the age of 15 due to a brain haemorrhage. They managed to get through an unimaginable tragedy by dint of the support of their family, their faith and the knowledge that because of their decisions, donations from Daryl’s body helped, they think, at least 25 other young people. It was particularly important for them, and they subsequently took part in a project with the Department of Health called, I think, "Patient Voices", to encourage people from minority communities to become donors. There is a lack of organs from particular minority communities. For biological reasons, it is important that people from minority communities receive compatible organs and tissue. The second reason why I support this amendment is because it does what the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, said it does. It takes the point established in the Mental Capacity Act about people being able to make an advance statement of their wishes and have it respected. That is the key to this. In this House, we have had repeated arguments about presumed consent. Whatever one’s view of that, where somebody has made an indication of his wishes, it is important that it is observed. The only point that I would make on that is that I suspect the Minister might seek to turn down the amendment on the basis of the wording. If it could be reworded to have as strict conditions for the notification of consent as is the case in the Mental Capacity Act—for example, that the consent must be recorded in writing—I would be happy with that. Having said that, I echo the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay: what more do people want who wish to increase the number of organs that are available for transplant but who wish to do so within a framework that understands the ethical considerations and objections that some people have? When are we going to move forward on this? We seem to be running out of options, and the situation simply gets worse. When we know that so many people want to do this, it is, frankly, perplexing.