NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the agency responsible for allocating donated organs and maintaining the organ donor register, is considering proceeding with harvesting organs from a registered donor in spite of objections from the deceased's family, in order to raise the number of available organs. District nurses are witness to the need for an increase in the number of donated organs, given the care they provide to those waiting for transplant, and it is essential that district nurses inform this debate. In this article, the author discusses the NHSBT proposal and reviews the law of consent in relation to organ donation.
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