Dutch favor automatic organ donor signup

Research from EenVandaag among 20 thousand people shows that 61 percent are in favor of setting up a system where people are automatically registered as organ donors.

Donor Week draws attention to the shortage of donors in the Netherlands. In order to increase the number of donors the D66 presented a legislative proposal to change the current system to an "active donor registration system". In this system, anyone who fails to register in the donor registry after repeated calls, will automatically be registered as a donor.

There are also other conceivable measures to solve the donor shortage, such as a financial reward for people who register as organ donors, but only 11 percent of people consider this a good plan. 44 percent of respondents find that registered donors should receive priority should they need an organ.

There is a lot of ignorance about donor registration. Four in ten respondents who filled out a donor form, did not realize that you can establish that you don't want to give any organs. Half of respondents also did not know that their relatives will have to decide if they do not register their choice.

Only 42% of respondents believe that everyone has an equal right to a donor organ. Many respondents feel that people who use hard drugs (30%), drink excessively (26%) and smoke (24%) have less right to a donor organ.