Organ donations dragged down by low family consent rates in Australia: report

Low organ donation rates in Australia can be blamed on guardians refusing to enable organs from deceased family members to be donated, according to a new research released on Monday.

The study, published by the Medical Journal of Australia, found that just 10 of 427 deceased patients across a six-month period in 2012 were eligible for organ donation.

Furthermore, half of those 2.34 percent of patients' families refused to consent to have their loved ones' organs donated.

The study said Australia was performing "substantially less" than other countries in terms of donor rates.

"Even if a dead patient is found to have previously consented on the organ donation register, family members of that person are always consulted and given the chance to override that," associate professor Michael O'Leary, who co-authored the study, told The Guardian on Monday.

"Nobody could imagine a system where family members who were completely opposed to organ donation were made to sit and watch as their loved one was wheeled out of an intensive care unit for organ donation."

Due to family members being allowed the final say in any decision regarding organ donation, O'Leary believes the only way to deal with the situation is training clinicians in discussing the matter with mourning families.

He also said there were a number of reasons why family members opted against organ donation on a deceased person, even if that person had signed up for the donation themselves.

"But for many, it's a highly traumatic time for them and sometimes it's just not something they can think about," O'Leary said.

Earlier in the year, research from the Organ and Tissue Authority said there had been 378 organ donations in 2014, a 3 percent decline from the year prior.

They also said that a single organ or tissue donation can save the lives of up to 10 people. Endi