Rare Bits

Assumed consent for organ donation has been in operation in Wales for the past six months, and has resulted in the predictable moral disaster, with lives being saved by the dozen, including several which might have been lost under an opt-in-only scheme. Assumed consent is a calamity for family values, because relatives might be prevented from overruling the wishes of the deceased; especially when organs for transplant are in short supply. The Church in Wales is concerned that the rules could alienate relatives of potential donors, and may be too confusing for its simple-minded flock to understand. The Church is also worried that the system may set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; not to mention healing the sick, an activity with which the Saviour famously never sullied himself.