And if there is any doubt about whether dead donor rule is in dispute, a staff member of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, at Oxford, has suggested that it may be time for mandatory organ donation. Because even a presumed consent policy would not yield enough organs, Dominic Wilkinson, writing on the Practical Ethics blog, supports a policy of “organ conscription”:

“Alternatively, we may come to think that the benefit of organ donation is so great that we should reject the current charade of informed consent for organ donation. After all, at present thousands of patients per year die for want of an available organ. Yet every day potentially life-saving organs are buried or burned because their owners did not make their wishes clear during life, because their families could not come to terms with the idea of donation, or because doctors failed to approach families to ask them for permission. Consent is relevant to what happens to us while we are alive. But once we are dead, our organs cannot benefit us, while they could save the lives of up to 6 others. Perhaps it is time to contemplate mandatory organ donation after death?”