Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill

Baroness Crawley Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 23rd November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Crawley (Lab)]

My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend Lord Hunt on his important work in bringing the Bill before us today, and of course on his new appointment—we are very proud of him.

In so many ways, the business of politics should be to minimise unnecessary pain and marginalise premature death, as the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, said. According to the latest NHS figures for the year ending March 2018, the total number of patients whose lives were saved or improved by an organ transplant increased by 7% to 5,090, as the noble Lord, Lord Patel, said. It is a mercy that we live in a time when, thanks to science and innovation, sick children can be given new hearts—but really they are old hearts. This is the most wonderful form of recycling we can ever hope to see. Like all good recycling schemes, the more people who get involved and take action and tell their kids about it, the stronger and the healthier our society becomes.

The statistics show that the incidence of every kind of organ transplant is rising, from donors both living and deceased. But hundreds still die every year while waiting on the list, hoping for a donor who does not appear. We are told of the 426 patients who died last year on the waiting list for new organs; of those, 17 were children. There can be nothing more gruesome for their families—all those loved ones who know that the science is in place and the doctors are ready, but the phone never rings. Their souls must be truly sealed up with tears.

Everyone knows a relative or a friend—I certainly do—whose lifespan has been extended by the good will of a fellow human being whom he or she will most likely never meet. The silent solidarity of one particular young man who has bone marrow drawn out of his pelvis so that an older man can defeat blood cancer is the most precious human currency we can ever store. The kidney, the pancreas, the liver, the heart and the lung can all be used more than once. A thousand tons of relief and joy must pour into families every year because of this modern, scientific and miraculous reality.

I congratulate Dan Jarvis and all those from all sides of the House in another place who have pushed so hard to make Max and Keira’s law not merely a step forward but, with this opt-out provision, a turn of the ratchet. The Mirror’s campaigning activity, sustained over several years, is a credit to the editor and the journalists concerned, as well as to all the brave families who told and retold their stories in its pages. Such a sustained campaign has been needed because, although 80% of people said they would be willing to donate their organs when asked last year, only 37% had recorded that decision on the NHS organ donor register. The gap is important.

Finally, as the noble Lord, Lord Patel, mentioned, we are surely all glad that, where in the past there have been cultural and religious inhibitions about post-mortem transplants, that now seems to be something of a losing force. I hope that continues. We have to hope that the whole of England, in all its glorious diversity, absorbs the message of deemed consent and that every community teaches its young that organ donation is one of the highest forms of good.