Max and Keira’s law: an overview on the advantages, disadvantages and alternatives to an opt-out organ donation system in the UK

Abstract

To increase the number of organ donors in England, the government will implement Max and Keira's Law: all adults over the age of 18 living in the United Kingdom become potential organ donors a er their death, unless they choose to opt out. The law will be employed by spring 2020. Despite there being presumed consent for the retrieval of organs, families of the deceased will still be contacted to recheck consent, and ensure that family wishes are upheld.

Persufflation—Current State of Play

“…In an effort to improve organ availability, legislators from several countries have implemented laws that aim to increase the amount of organ donations and improve the selection criteria for transplant allocation. This includes the introduction of opt-out laws, such as the Max and Keira's law [3] in the UK, where, adults are considered to have given consent for their organs to be donated unless documented otherwise [4]. Another such law introduced in the US aims to revise how organ allocation works, moving away from a region-based approach to a priority-system based on donor-organ range to transplant centres dictated by the organs' preservation time.…”