Injury news
07/01/2011

Fatal head injury and the NHS Organ Donor Register

Occasionally people who suffer head injury in road traffic accidents do not survive and the family is not only left with the possibility of claiming compensation for their pain and suffering, but sometimes left to make the difficult decision on whether to donate their loved one's organs to help save someone on the transplant register.

From this July, drivers applying for their licence will be asked whether they would like to join the NHS Organ Donor Register. They will be able to answer the question at some other time if they do not wish to answer immediately, but the hope is that more people will click that they would like to join and increase the size of the list.

The United States began a similar system in 2008 and has seen a great increase in people who choose to become organ donors in the event of their deaths. Studies in Britain have shown that between 65% and 90% of the population would not be against joining the list.

There are around 10,000 people in the UK today waiting for a life-saving transplant and, according to the NHS, three people every day die waiting for organs which have not yet become available through the current 27% of the British population on the donation list.

The hope is that with an extra bit of prompting drivers will choose to join so that in the event of a fatal head injury, or other injury leading to their death, someone in desperate need of a transplant may benefit.