After all the fuss the other day about presumed consent for organ donation, it seems as though alternatives are to be explored before going down the route of presuming that people who have not given informed consent may be harvested for their organs.
Presumed consent for organ donation, backed by Gordon Brown at the weekend, was put on the back burner yesterday as a government taskforce unveiled measures it claimed would increase donations by 50% without it.
Good. Excellent. Why didn’t they come up with this in the first instance?
The Organ Donation Taskforce, whose report was immediately accepted in full by the government, wants a body set up to promote donation throughout the UK instead of it being a matter for individual hospitals or regions. It said the move, for which the government pledged £11m, would transform organ donation and boost transplants by 1,200 a year.
Yup. Again, just the right thing to do. This means that people will be made aware of the situation and will be able to make a decision for themselves. It is right, proper and ethical – presumed consent is none of these.
No. This ‘initiative’ was part of the news-management of the Hain affair – no more and no less. That is clear from the sequence events.
Brown makes an announcement, apparently ‘unaware of’ the ODT report. Simultaneously the ODT is issues its report which is immediately accepted in full by Brown.
See what happened there?
A momentary partially successful diversion of the attention of the credulous.
Well, if it was intended to divert attention from the incompetent Hain, I’m not sure that it was successful…
Either way, the ODT is taking the right line.
Yes the ODT has got it approximately right, but my interest is that Brown announces something which is completely outrageous – as a ploy. Even his ‘acceptance’ is a ploy.
Whether that itself is/was successful is a different matter. What we can see though, is that a variety of relatively extreme positions and announcements have been put forward at this time, all of them – coincidentally – nothing to do with Hain and his ‘incompetence’.
The ‘diversionary initiatives bank’ at Downing Street must be fairly low on reserves right now.
Indeed, point taken. So, no change there, then.
In any other job, “incompetence” would see someone removed until they were competent.
Back tracked on organ donations? He hasn’t found a heart, surely.