English hospitals will now be bodyrobbing ghouls, but it's for the "good" of society

In return for continued "free" health care, England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that he'll attempt to push through a scheme to allow doctors to harvest organs from brain-dead patients, without an organ donor card or prior permission from the patient's family. The "presumed consent" rule will allow medical personnel to carve one up like a Thanksgiving turkey in order to parcel out the giblets, unless the patient and/or his family has specifically filled out an objection form prior to the patient's passing.

Organ donation is a wonderful, selfless act that is one of the most noble things that a person can do for other members of a society. However, they're your organs, and whether or not one chooses to donate them is one's own private business. Except in England, apparently.

Here's just a couple of things mentioned in the article that will make this "plan" ripe for abuse:

"Hospitals will be rated for the number of deceased patients they "convert" into donors and doctors will be expected to identify potential donors earlier and alert donor co-ordinators as patients approach death." (Emphasis mine)

Translation: People's jobs and pay will hinge on just how many bodies they produce for harvesting, and grieving families will be bombarded by doctors and coordinators with donation demands while they are trying to come to grips with the fact that Aunt Mabel probably isn't going to make it. Nope, I guess there's nothing wrong with making donation numbers a competition among hospitals, and attempting to sway people who are blinded with grief is now going to be just part of doing business over there.

"It admits to a possible "conflict of interest" between medical staff, trying to save lives and those keen to ensure every possible organ is harvested. Dr Kevin Gunning, an intensive care consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and a member of the UK Transplant's advisory group, said the measures could put doctors and relatives under pressure. 'If, as a doctor you have turned your thoughts to your patient being a donor when they are still living, that is a real conflict.'
Dr Bruce Taylor, of the Intensive Care Society warned that early indicators of death were not reliable. 'The only way to be sure is to do all the tests which show brain stem death; anything in advance of that is only a prediction.'"

Details, details. It's for the good of society, so just shut up already, doctors. So what if someone is declared dead before they actually are dead? After all, they're going to go sometime, so why not now, when their liver and kidneys are needed in the next ward? This way is so much more convenient for the hospital.

Future travelers to England, try mightily not to go to the hospital for anything, even a hangnail, as you just might get declared brain-dead and dissected before you have a chance to say no. Me? I'm not going there anytime soon anyway, so I have no worries.

Unless Hillary wins.