Useful Organs

AG says legislation to allow for organ harvesting, donation soon before Parliament By Anesta Henry Barbados is moving closer to introducing legislation that would allow doctors to end “futile care” for brain-dead patients and pave the way for the donation of the organs of the deceased. Attorney General Dale Marshall said the draft of a Human Tissue Transport Bill was completed and should be before Parliament within a matter of a few weeks. “At this point in time, there are no impediments to that bill being laid in Parliament and debated, and I am quite sure that we have reminded the Minister of Health [Dr Jerome Walcott] that all of that drafting work is completed. So the ball is in the Ministry of Health’s court now. “But I anticipate that we should be able to get it to Parliament within the next couple of weeks; it shouldn’t take long. It is drafted and I have certified it. When the Attorney General certifies it, it means that it is as good as it could be and ready for Cabinet’s final approval. So we are on the cusp of completing that very important work,” Marshall said. The Attorney General provided the update on Thursday evening at St George Parish Speaks, held at the St George Secondary School, as he responded to President of the Barbados Kidney Association Allan Haynes’ question regarding the status of the proposed legislation to harvest organs. Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who also attended the town hall meeting, said the bill would likely have to go to a Select Committee of Parliament for broader consultation. However, she assured Haynes that she felt his concern about the need for the organ harvesting legislation to become a reality, as medical experts project it could benefit hundreds of dialysis patients for whom kidney donation would be a better alternative. “And I will tell you straight that if something happens to me tomorrow and I am brain dead, make sure [you] take every organ out of my body and give it to somebody who needs it, and I ain’t even joking. Because there is no sense in letting my organs go down in the earth with me when I can be of use to somebody else who wants life. It is a conversation that families must have,” the Prime Minister said. “You will get people who will say no way, but there are a number of families in this country that would say, ‘If I get into an accident or if I am brain dead, I would want to make sure that a Barbadian who needs a better quality of life can be given it even if I can’t be given a better quality of life’.” Meanwhile, Haynes said the Barbados Kidney Association stands ready to assist the Ministry of Health in efforts to get buy-in from Barbadians as the country moves forward with a revolutionary piece of legislation. “We have a number of panel discussions that we had recently that were held by local, regional and international speakers that we stand ready to share. We also had interviews with transplant recipients and donors which we can also share, because we believe that we have to change the hearts and minds of Barbadians if this legislation is going to be successful. Just passing legislation alone will not achieve the results,” he said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb]]>