On the Square Today

In today’s On the Square, Wesley Smith discusses organ donation and presumed consent laws :

[L]egislation (A-9865) just introduced by New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky would turn the current approach for obtaining consent inside-out. Brodksy’s bill would require every applicant for a New York driver’s license to expressly opt out as an organ donor, rather than, as is currently the case, expressly opt in. The proposal states: “If the applicant does not decline to be registered in the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry they will be automatically enrolled.” In other words, unless you explicitly refuse to be a potential donor—you are one.

“Presumed consent,” as this approach is known, is already the law in several countries, and studies are mixed as to whether they meaningfully increase the organ supply. But even if such laws have added to the number of transplantable organs in countries like Spain and France, as seems to be the case, we are not (yet) Europe. We value individualism over collectivism, autonomous decision making over the imposed “greater good.” Indeed, presumed consent laws could unleash a boomerang effect: Many would resent the new approach as government coercion over one of the most intimate decisions anyone can make and protest by taking the opt out option.