Summary publication: www.ea-aw.de/organmangel.html 

Publication of the complete study: 

F. Breyer, W. van den Daele, M. Engelhard, G. Gubernatis, H. Kliemt, C. Kopetzki, H. J. Schlitt, J. Taupitz: “Organmangel. Ist der Tod auf der Warteliste unvermeidbar?“ Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2006. ISBN 3-540-33054-2 

Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, 31 May 2007 – On the occasion of National Organ Donation Day on 2 June, the Europäische Akademie has made a summary of its study “Organmangel. Ist der Tod auf der Warteliste unvermeidbar?” (“The Scarcity of Donated Organs. Is Death on the Waiting List Unavoidable?”) available online. 

Recent events in transplantation medicine have shown that both the organisation of organ transplantations as well as transplantation law are in urgent need of reform. The Akademie’s study on the scarcity of donated organs takes a closer look at this problem and gives detailed recommendations for action: The interdisciplinary project group looks at reasons for the scarcity of donated organs and shows ways of removing them. The study was carried out by an interdisciplinary project group of the Europäische Akademie. 

The scarcity of donated organs in transplantation medicine is a very relevant subject for society in general. In Germany alone, almost 1000 patients die every year while waiting for an organ. Another 12,000 patients are on waiting lists and some of them enduring great suffering. Society must not ignore the scarcity of organs, but rather must seek to find new solutions and discuss various options for action without putting any limits on the possibilities. 

The working group’s initial focus is on post mortem organ donation. Amongst the decisive factors determining the quantity of donated organs is the hospitals’ participation in recognising potential donors, the co-ordination of organ donations and the permission of organ removal granted by donors or their relatives. The study provides strategies to positively influence those factors. Those strategies are as varied as refunding hospitals through the abolishment of the co-ordination agency monopoly all the way to the introduction of the opt-out solution. Due to the particular scarcity of kidney and liver transplants, an approach regarding the expansion of living donations is being controversially discussed.

 

For further information, please contact:

Europäische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer  Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH 

Dr. phil. Margret Engelhard, Dipl.-Biol.

Wilhelmstr. 56 

53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler 

Phone: +49 (0) 2641 973-305 

Email: margret.engelhardea-aw.de