A private members bill that would see New Brunswick become the second jurisdiction in North America to impose presumed consent for organ donation has been sent to a committee of the legislature for further study.
Currently, donors must register to have their organs used for transplant, or family members of a deceased person must give explicit consent for organs to be harvested, but the new bill would change that.
Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Human Tissue Gift Act, would presume consent for organ and tissue donation unless a person opts out. The bill was tabled by Liberal Health critic Jean-Claude D’Amours and was heavily based on similar legislation passed in Nova Scotia in 2019.
“I don’t know what will be the final outcome and I hope that the government side and the Green and People’s Alliance will support Bill 61,” D’Amours said ahead of a second reading debate on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s the right thing to do.”
D’Amours did not get his wish, as the PC government used their majority to kick the bill over to the law amendments committee for further study.
“I want to keep working together. I want to keep researching our options and researching how we can make this bill the best it can be, because Madame Speaker, it could not be approved today without amendments,” said health minister Dorothy Shephard.
Shephard said the bill was not without merit, but raised concerns over the violation of bodily autonomy and if the law would actually result in an increase of donors without other “foundational” supports for the system in place.
“This bill has immense value,” Shephard said. “I want to support the movement toward organ and tissue donation.”
“The government agrees that increasing the number of organ and tissue donors and the number of residents who indicate an intention to become an organ and tissue donor is vital.”
The Liberals have called the bill “Avery’s Law,” in reference to a 16-year-old Miramichi boy who died after a car crash in 2019. Avery Astle’s parents wanted to donate his organs but were told that no one was available to retrieve them.
D’Amours says there are more than 140 New Brunswickers waiting for transplants.
All three opposition parties voted against the amendment sending the bill to law amendments, arguing that amendments could still be introduced prior to third reading. The amendment passed 25-22, with government legislators voting in favour and the Liberals, Greens and People’s Alliance voting against.
The bill is now in the hands of the standing committee on law amendments, which will be able to call witnesses to weigh in. The committee will produce a report with any suggested changes before it heads back to the assembly for further consideration. No date has been set for when the committee will consider the bill.
Liberal leader Roger Melanson said he was concerned about delaying the bill, potentially meaning more New Brunswickers could die while awaiting transplant.
“Let’s not wait another six months, 12 months, two years,” he said.
“I know the minister said she’s in favour of a movement towards organ donations, a movement she called it. We don’t want a movement, we want a law, that will enable that.”
The New Brunswick Medical Society has come out in support of the bill.
“We need to reduce barriers to organ and tissue donation,” said president Jeff Steeves in a statement earlier this week.
According to the medical society, approximately 4,400 Canadians are waiting for an organ transplant and about 250 Canadians die each year waiting.. They say that countries with presumed consent see 25 to 30 per cent more donations than those with explicit consent.
Mary Schryer, a former health minister in the Shawn Graham government, is familiar with the experience of watching a family member wait for a transplant. Schryer’s sister died in 2010 while waiting for a lung transplant.
She hopes to see the bill go forward so that others don’t have to go through the same experience.
“She waited two years on the waitlist for a lung that never came,” Schryer said.
“You never want to see somebody suffer the way you did and once you’ve lived it, it takes on a whole new meaning,” she said.
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