Public awareness for organ donation needed
By Gabriel Etele

If you want to become an organ donor, signing an organ donor card may be an important first step, but it is far from a guarantee that your wishes will be carried out.

The main reason, according to the Citizens Panel on Increasing Organ Donations, is that "donor cards are almost never seen or asked for" by emergency room doctors, and "the family's decision will prevail even if it contradicts the deceased's wishes."

The panel, struck by Ontario 's Health and Long- Term Care Minister George Smitherman, also found in its 2007 report that many people "are misinformed about organ donation," and recommended that "a public education campaign be developed assuring the public their wishes will be respected and informing them how this will be done."

Towards this end, the Organ Donation and Transplant Association of Canada advises prospective donors not only to fill out and sign an organ donor card, but also to discuss their decision with loved ones and ask them to carry a signed organ donor notification card, which, if the occasion ever arises, can be shown to emergency room staff. Doing this may save the life of one or more of the 4,200 men, women and children on Canadian transplant waiting lists.

You can download organ donor and organ donor notification cards from the association's website at www.organdonations.ca.

Gabriel Etele is President and CEO of the Organ Donation & Transplant Association of Canada