THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIHAB RATTANS, CNN ANCHOR: As demand grows for organ donations, supply remains critically low around the world. More than 1 million people worldwide have benefited from organ transplants, but the limited supply is costing lives. In the Netherlands more than 150 people die each year because they are unable to receive the organs they need.
Deron Varn (ph) of Dutch RNTV reports on a proposal by a transplant foundation that may increase the harvest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DERON VARN, RNTV REPORTER (voice-over): Despite years of awareness campaigns, the number of organ donors in the Netherlands falls well short of country's needs. Many hundred of patients are placed on waiting lists until a suitable donor organ has been found. The average time a patient has to wait varies depending on the requested organ.
But most patients can't afford to wait.
BERNADETTE HAASE, DUTCH TRANSPLANT FOUNDATION (through translator): These waiting lists can mean a life or death situation, especially for those in need of heart, lung or liver. And I'm sorry to say that 15 to 20 percent of these patients will die before getting a donor organ.
VARN: Becoming an organ donor is completely voluntary in the Netherlands. All you have to do is fill (UNINTELLIGIBLE), after which a donor is registered in a database.
However, Dutch law gives the relatives of a deceased person the final say on whether or not to donate the organs. And that has proved to be the flaw in this system.
JOOP UZERMANS, SURGEON (through translator): It's a complicated issue. Whenever an organ donors dies, most relatives want to leave the remains intact, despite the wish of the deceased. As doctor, it's my job to persuade these relatives, but in most cases the grieving family is not interested in the life of an anonymous patient who needs an organ.
VARN: Take, for instance, 21-year-old Hester. As a kidney patient, it takes you three-and-a-half hours of dialysis every day. She has been waiting for over three years for a transplant, but the supply of donor kidneys just isn't sufficient to help out all kidney patients.
HESTER LANDA, KIDNEY PATIENT (through translator): It's very frustrating to me that most people just don't care about all the patients who are in desperate need of a new organ. They just don't seem to realize that this will mean a chance to start a new life for most of us.
VARN: Unfortunately, most people don't want to think about their death. Therefore, the Dutch Transplant Foundation wants the government to make everyone a potential donor. Only those who specifically stipulate that they don't want to donate their organs will be excluded. This might seem harsh, but in this scenario relatives are still given the option to deny any organ transplant.
Deron Varn, Radio Netherlands Television for CNN WORLD REPORT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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