Glyn Davies, Montgomeryshire’s Conservative MP has given his backing to comments made by the Most Rev. Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales disagreeing with the Welsh Government’s proposals to introduce ‘presumed consent’ into the process of organ donation.
Glyn Davies has been a long term critic of the Welsh Governments plans to change the law as being ineffective, immoral and possible outside of Welsh Government powers.
Glyn Davies, an enthusiastic supporter of the principle of organ donation, has carried a donor card for many years, and encourages others to register. Supporting the Archbishop’s comments, Glyn Davies said;
“I agree with the Archbishop of Wales that removing organs from humans beings on their death without their previously expressed permission is wrong. In effect, to change the law, granting the ‘state’ the legal right to harvest our organs is changing the act of donating from a ‘gift of the individual’ to a ‘right of the state’. The change in the law will inevitably mean that some organs will be harvested contrary to the wishes of dead people simply because they did not get around to registering their opposition. Changing the law would be immoral”.
“Introducing ‘presumed consent’ would also be ineffective. International experience has shown that this is not the best way to increase organ availability. The best way is to improve efficiency in the organ donation system. Most people would be happy to donate, as I am, and as the Archbishop of Wales is, if they were to be asked. I approve of people being asked the question when they apply for a driving licence or fill in a census form. There is a desperate shortage of organs available for transplant, and we should be taking effective action to resolve the problem”.
“It is also my personal opinion that the Welsh Government does not have the legal right to change the law as it proposes to do. In my opinion it is not just a ‘health’ matter (which is devolved) but a matter of individual’s human rights (which is not devolved). I hope that the Welsh Government will think again before going down this wrong path”.
