With the waiting list for organ transplants the longest it has been in nearly a decade, members of the Jewish community are being urged to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register.
There are now almost 8,000 people in the UK waiting for organs, including 200 children, despite legislation with respect to organ and tissue donation changing in 2020 from an “opt-in” to an “opt-out” system,
The change in law means that everyone over 16 is considered to be willing to donate their organs and tissue when they die, unless they filled in a form to opt out.
However, even if they don’t opt out themselves, their relatives can still object to organ donation if the deceased never joined the organ donor register.
According to NHS Blood and Transplant, every day across the UK, someone dies waiting for an organ transplant, and one donor can save or transform up to nine lives through organ donation, and even more through tissue donation.
They say that for many patients in need of a transplant, the most suitable match will come from a donor from the same ethnic background.
Baroness Gillian Merron, former chief executive of the Board of Deputies, has backed calls for more people from the Jewish community to sign up to become donors.
Speaking at an event in Parliament hosted by NHS Blood and Transplant and Kidney Care UK, she said there was “a critical need” for more organ donors and that the NHS was currently experiencing “the highest demand and length of waiting list [of people waiting for an organ donor] we have seen in the UK in almost a decade. That is a challenge for all of us. So, we need to work together to encourage more people to record their decision on the register.”
Baroness Gillian Merron
She added that NHS Blood and Transplant had facilitated some 4,600 transplants in the past year. “Every one of those transplants represents not just a person, it represents their friends, their families, their communities. So never forget the extent to which this work affects people,” said Merron.
The register includes a faith declaration option, which allows individuals to specify their religious beliefs and ensures that these will be adhered to if they are ever considered as an organ donor.
A spokesperson for NHS Blood and Transplant said that the faith declaration had “led to positive discussions about organ donation within the Jewish community, but there is still a need for more people to sign up”.
Merron was joined in Parliament by Jess Harris from London, a member of the Jewish community, who received a double kidney and pancreas transplant in 2018 after suffering kidney failure due to type 1 diabetes.
Miraculously, she went on to have a baby, Ezra, who is now eight months old. She said: “My organs and I have just celebrated our sixth birthday. They are the reason I am here. They are the reason I am living my best life. They are the reason I get to be a mummy, which I never thought was possible. Without my organs I would not be able to live and love this life I’ve worked so hard to create.
“No one wants to think about death or talk about it round a dinner table, but until you’re personally affected by it you don’t fully understand or appreciate how vital these conversations are. After all, I am only here today because my donor had these very brave discussions.”
Donor recipient Jess Harris and baby Ezra
Research shows that the main barrier to organ donation among various religious or ethnically diverse communities is the belief that it is against a person’s culture or religion, despite the fact that organ donation is supported by all major religions and belief systems, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.
There is a rich and complex body of Jewish Law discussing the topic but donating one’s organs is generally supported across the religious Jewish spectrum in the UK.
There are Orthodox halachic authorities that still debate the topic, and it is recommended that each person seek detailed guidance from their own rabbi.
The Office of Chief Rabbi has stipulated that “whilst it is certainly true that there are circumstances in which donation is not possible, there are nevertheless also circumstances in which it can be done with remarkable life-saving implications”.
The Chief Rabbi
The office has, over the years, worked with the NHS Blood and Transplant and the Human Tissue Authority to deliver an accommodation within the opt-out system, which allows a person to declare on the register that their decision for donation is subject to their family receiving guidance from their chosen religious authority.
This provision, if used, means that wherever an opportunity arises for donation by an observant Jewish person, their family will be prompted by specially trained nursing staff to take account of their wishes in various ways, including by consulting with the person’s rabbi before any donation can take place, as well as involving them throughout the donation process.
Progressive Judaism’s attitude toward organ donation “not only fully supports and encourages” it, but many of its leaders and clergy played a role in the campaign to switch to the “opt-out” system, said its heads.
Rabbi Josh Levy, co-lead of Progressive Judaism, told the JC that “one of the most important principles of Jewish life is pikuach Nefesh”, the principle that saving a life takes precedence over everything else.
He said: “The most important thing is to preserve the life of someone who can be saved, rather than seek to save the life of someone who is already dead.”
Fellow co-lead Rabbi Charley Baginsky added: “Above all else, we must remember that saving a human life is the greatest mitzvah of all. As it says in the Talmud: ‘Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if they saved an entire world.’”
Progressive Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy (Photo: Omaggio)
Dr Jo Farrar, chief executive at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “The fact that more patients than ever before are waiting for a transplant means we need to educate as many people as possible on the lifesaving benefits of donation.
“We know that 90 per cent of families agree to donation going ahead if they know their loved one had recorded a decision to donate. So, as we celebrate 30 years of the NHS Organ Donor Register, I would urge everyone to register their decision to donate, and more importantly, for families to support that decision so that we can continue to honour this legacy and save even more lives.”
NHS Blood and Transplant said they were committed to working with faith organisations, leaders, non-religious groups, hospital chaplains and pastoral carers to build awareness and break down perceived barriers.
This, they said, was particularly important to address concerns and misconceptions about the organ donation process amongst religious and minority ethnic communities.
For more informatin on becoming an organ donor or to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register, click here or visit:organdonation.nhs.uk or call: 0300 123 23 23
