{"id":182016,"date":"2021-04-05T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=182016"},"modified":"2021-03-31T06:39:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T05:39:50","slug":"scots-become-automatic-organ-donors-under-new-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/04\/scots-become-automatic-organ-donors-under-new-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Scots Become Automatic Organ Donors under New Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Everyone in Scotland is now an automatic organ donor – unless they opt out of a new system.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ross Peters and his wife Shauni owe everything to Ross’ heart donor.<\/p><\/div>\n

26 Mar 2021 –<\/em>From today, it is presumed that people have consented to donation unless they have stated otherwise.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Experts say this will mean that many more people can be given life-saving and life-changing transplants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

People who do not want their organs to be donated for a transplant can opt out through the Organ Donation Scotland website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Under the old system, more than half of Scotland’s population were registered to donate their organs or tissue after their death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

But it is hoped the number of potential donors could increase further under the new scheme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

In two years, a similar system in Wales has increased family consent by 50%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The Scottish law was due to change in November but was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Organ donation means people like 27-year-old Ross Peters, who was diagnosed with a heart condition at 21, have a second chance at life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

‘A normal life’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

By last summer Ross’ health was so bad that he was put on the urgent transplant list – just months before his wife Shauni was about to have their first child.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Luckily for Ross, he got his new heart in August, and now he is able to play a more active role as dad to baby Louis, who was born in November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n