After the launch of the new organ donation register, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) called for a new vote in the Bundestag on the introduction of an objection solution for organ donations. “I want to put the contradiction solution to the vote again. The current German Bundestag has not yet decided on this question,” Laumann told the television station Welt TV. “I will now submit an application to the Bundesrat through the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a proper draft law for a solution to the contradiction.”
A contradiction solution would stipulate that basically every person in Germany is legally declared an organ donor – and must actively object to this if they do not agree to this. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also spoke out in favor of it.
Laumann was optimistic that his proposal would find a majority in the Federal Council. “I know that many health ministers in other countries think the same way I do.” The Bundestag will then have to deal with it.
More on the topic: Organ donations
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The CDU politician pointed out that all states with a contradiction solution in Europe had a higher number of organ donations than Germany. There are still “people who die because we don’t have an organ, or people who have very, very severe limitations in their lives because we don’t have an organ.”
Objection resolution could increase the number of organ donations
Since Monday, people in Germany have been able to register their willingness to donate organs in a central register on the Internet. According to Federal Health Minister Lauterbach, the new organ donation register is intended to gradually replace the previous paper donor card and increase the number of urgently needed donations.
In view of the ongoing shortage of donor organs, Lauterbach called for significantly more extensive legal measures. He assumes “that we can only increase the number of organ donations in the long term by introducing the contradiction solution,” said the SPD politician.
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In 2020, the Bundestag voted on an objection solution, but at that time there was no majority in favor of it. The model for the so-called decision-making solution was adopted at that time: This means that every person should document whether they want to donate organs or not.
After the launch of the new organ donation register, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) called for a new vote in the Bundestag on the introduction of an objection solution for organ donations. “I want to put the contradiction solution to the vote again. The current German Bundestag has not yet decided on this question,” Laumann told the television station Welt TV. “I will now submit an application to the Bundesrat through the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a proper draft law for a solution to the contradiction.”