Eurolink News

Calls for EU-wide donor card as tributes paid to former MEP assistant (25/4/08)

April 25, 2008 at 2:54 pm Leave a comment

Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness has paid tribute in the European Parliament to her former assistant who died tragically earlier this year. 30 year old Corkman James Sullivan had been working in Brussels for the MEP before his accidental death on February 10th. His organs were donated to be used for patients awaiting transplants. Ms McGuinness spoke of James to coincide with a new report approved by an overwhelming majority of MEPs seeking to promote organ donation across the union. She said, ‘Today there are people whose lives have been enhanced and extended because of the decision made by James and his parents to donate his organs so that others might live. It is the only positive thing we all cling to in the aftermath of James’s untimely passing.’
The report backed by the European Parliament puts forward a number of measures to tackle the shortage of organs, including the introduction of a EU-wide donor card, allowing citizens in different member states to give or receive organs across borders. There are almost 40,000 patients requiring an organ transplant currently on waiting lists in Western Europe – that’s more than the number of organs available. A recent Eurobarometer survey showed that while more than two-thirds of Irish people claimed they would be willing to donate organs, only 29% of Irish people held a donor card.
The document also urges the European Commission to implement legal standards to assure the quality and safety of organ transplantation and reduce the risks involved.
The discussion in Europe coincides with an investigation taking place in Ireland following a botched transplant operation. Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin is carrying out an internal review into how the wrong kidney was removed from a 4 year old child, leaving him in need of regular dialysis unless a donor can be found.

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