Proposition 51K2680

Projet de loi modifiant la loi du 13 juin 1986 sur le prélèvement et la transplantation d'organes.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP MR Open Vld Vooruit Purple Ⅰ

Submission date

Sept. 7, 2006

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

organ transplant public health

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Dec. 20, 2006 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

As usual, I will try to make it brief. The draft law amending the law of 13 June 1986 on organ removal and transplantation.

I will briefly repeat the explanation of the Minister in the committee. It comes down to the fact that, thanks to the ongoing medical advances in the field of organ transplantation, the lives of numerous patients in increasingly improved conditions are saved. This positive situation has a reverse side. Belgium is currently struggling, like all European countries, with organ shortages. The number of people on the waiting lists continues to increase and unfortunately therefore also the death rate of people on the waiting lists.

The present draft law aims to make structural changes to existing legislation in order to increase the number of available bodies in our country. Work should also be done on improving the detection of potential donors in the intensive care department. The current law does not regulate organ donation. The draft law therefore aims to implement a number of amendments to the Act of 13 June 1986. One of the measures empowers the King to organize organ harvesting as much as possible by modifying rules regarding the permission for organ harvesting from living donors and the opposition to organ harvesting after death.

The bill also aims to maintain complete and clear information on organ donation. After all, it is important that the decision on organ donation takes place in full freedom, both by a living donor and for a vegetative donor.

In order to guarantee serenity, the protection of living donors is strengthened by the obligation of prior multidisciplinary consultation. It also sets out the conditions under which an organ may be taken from a living donor who is unable to express his will.

The bill also sets out the conditions for being registered on a waiting list as a candidate-receiver. It is also appropriate to provide for exceptions to the criteria, in particular for urgent situations where lives are at risk.

The intention was to adapt the law to reality, as 60,000 Belgians have registered with their municipal administration as organ donors, so their family doesn’t have to make a painful decision if a loved one dies.

I am not going to repeat all the amendments, but some have been submitted. The decision of our committee was that the legislative-technically amended bill was unanimously adopted.

Mr. Speaker, we support the general objectives of the project, but we consider it a little too lax in either point, especially with regard to persons unable to give their consent and minors.

Therefore, we re-submit two amendments to the plenary: the first concerns persons deemed unable to give their consent. In this regard, our amendments aim to align the conditions of sampling with those set out in Article 20 of the Convention of 4 April 1997 on Human Rights and Biomedicine, known as the Oviedo Convention. This position is also suggested by the State Council.

I am grateful for the inventory of the details of the differences between the draft text and our amendment.

To conclude, I would like to point out that our position is not such as to drastically limit the potential to find organs, tissues and cells, because the difference between demand and supply depends primarily on a lack of awareness of the general population. Therefore, the limitation of the possibilities of collection from persons unable to give their consent and from minors brings, in our opinion, infinitely more advantages than disadvantages.