Spain saw 5,260 transplant surgeries in 2017, including 3,200 kidney transplants, 1,200 liver transplants and 300 heart transplants, in part due to their opt-out organ donation system. But would changing laws and policies to include an opt-out organ system work for the United States and other countries?
Here are three things to know:
1. In 2017, 2,183 people in Spain became organ donors after they died last year, according to The Independent. In other words, 46.9 people per every million people in Spain donated their organs. The has maintained its position as the clear leader for the past 26 years.
2. The opt-out system, sometimes referred to as assumed consent, is where a patient is presumed to consent to organ donation, even if that patient, when deceased, is not a registered donor.
3. Countries not having opt-out systems may have to change the public's ideology toward donation. In Spain, organ donation is viewed as "a gift" to give to someone else.This is explained to grieving families through trained coordination teams who specifically manage potential donors in intensive care units. This contributes to Spain's low 10-15 percent familial organ donation refusal rate.
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