New law makes all Nova Scotia residents organ donors

The province of Nova Scotia has now made it law on Monday that, by default, consent for organ donation is presumed for all of its residents. All Nova Scotians are now organ donors.

"It's a move that could dramatically boost the number of organ donors in the province," reported Huffington Post Canada.

The legislation, called the Human Organ and Issue Donation Act, was actually passed in April of 2019, but it came into effect finally on Monday, making the province the first place in North America to have such a law.

The nearly two-year delay in implementation had mainly to do with ensuring the healthcare system was ready for the change, and building the appropriate databases.

Dr. Stephen Beed, the director of NS's organ and tissue donation program, said:

"To my knowledge, nobody else is close to considering this, but many places are thinking about it. We have an opportunity to transform a component of the health-care system and that just does not happen very often."

"Overall, I honestly think that the system change is the most important part. We said, 'If you change the law, all you really have is words on a piece of paper, but if you change the law and then support the redesign of our system then you have reason to be optimistic.'"

Under the new system, one will have to actively opt-out if one doesn't want one's organs and tissues to be considered for donation upon one's demise.

Such systems are already in place in European nations such as Belgium and Spain.