by Renée Francoeur Photo: GNWT Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny The Northwest Territories’ Human Tissue Act, which regulates organ donations, is long overdue for a makeover, according to members of Legislature. Thanks to recent support from cabinet, it may soon see some much needed updates, such as clearly providing for transplants between living bodies (for example, a kidney donation to a relative). Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny brought forward a motion on June 6 calling for the GNWT to revise or replace the act “in order to create a framework for organ donation that reflects the best practices across Canada.” All eight regular members voted in favour of the motion and, while cabinet abstained from the initial vote, government House Leader Michael Miltenberger later confirmed on behalf of Health Minister Tom Beaulieu that “the government is going to come forward with a legislative proposal” this fall, outlining potential amendments to the act. “I am very pleased there is so much support,” Dolynny told The Journal. “I can’t tell you how many hours of research have gone into this…I’ve compared our act to all jurisdictions across Canada and I’ve even taken it one step further where I’ve compared it to international changes on the issue. Let’s hope they take some of the recommendations brought forward in my research.” The current act was designed in 1988 and runs only a page and a half. According to Dolynny, it lacks protection from criminal and civil liability for organ donor parties acting in good faith and without negligence and does not provide a concrete definition of “tissue.” It also contains no mention of who may carry out organ removal, beyond referencing “therapeutic purposes,” “medical education” and “medical research” as reasons for removal. There are no penalties for act violations, and the sale of body parts or benefitting from donation of organs or tissue is not explicitly banned. It’s also unclear in the consent provision if a “spouse” includes a common-law partner. Cleaning up the “hopelessly outdated” legislation is the first step towards implementing the first official organ donor registry in the territory, Dolynny said. Without a registry, it’s difficult to guarantee Northerners who want to be organ donors that the operation will actually go through. “You can participate on a voluntary basis by signing an organ donor card, but really that has very little bite and that can be challenged…There’s legal liability issues behind participating in the current program. You really have to have luck on your side and family support to make it happen,” Dolynny said. “Clearly, right now, we’re not a part of the Canadian database but hopefully that changes down the road as we begin this process.” A single organ donor can save up to eight lives, and tissue can help up to 50 other people, Dolynny said. More than 4,000 Canadians are on waitlists for transplants, including seven in the NWT. The demand is not being met, often with tragic results, he added. “Personally, I’ve known someone who wanted to donate one of their kidneys and I can’t tell you how complicated that was to do that and it wasn’t covered under our health care. You basically want to give someone a chance at life and legislation is preventing that,” he said. This isn’t the first time efforts have been undertaken to modernize the act. The topic was brought up in 1994, in 1998 and again in 2001. Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins also urged former health minister Sandy Lee to look at the act in 2009. “I think interest in the act waned a bit too over the years because of the cultural sensitivity in giving away one’s organs from a spiritual perspective. I went into this knowing that,” Dolynny said. “Having said that, interestingly enough, I think there has been a change in mindset, a modernization of thought if you will, and it’s being more accepted by many of the stakeholders who may have previously had some issues about donating organs.” Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro agreed that organ donation is “far more common” than it was in the 1980s. “Improving the Human Tissue Act is a necessary first step in improving our system,” Dolynny concluded in the House. “We owe a functioning system of tissue donation to our residents and to other Canadians. Let’s be clear. Right now, if one of our residents needs a kidney or a heart or a lung or even a cornea, they depend 100 per cent on Canadians in other jurisdictions. We aren’t helping, but we do benefit from the generosity of others.” Organ donations cost effective Transplants not only save lives, but they have the potential to save the government and taxpayers money. According to Dolynny, a single kidney transplant saves the health system about $250,000 every five years. The estimated savings of kidney transplants alone was $800 million in Canada in 2009, he told the House on June 6. Transplant services are carried out in the NWT in partnership with Alberta Health Services (AHS) as specialized surgical teams, equipment and advanced life support essential to organ harvesting are not available in the NWT. Logistical barriers such as geography, transit times and lab limitations also prevent the NWT from organ harvesting, Beaulieu explained to the Legislative Assembly. The Stanton Health Authority has partnered with the Human Organ Procedure Exchange (HOPE) Program based in Alberta, which funds all air and ground travel costs for potential NWT donors to travel there. “They (AHS) are currently looking for better ways, better options for identifying potential donors, including the possibility of a registry that will include our residents in any initiatives they develop,” Beaulieu said in the house. In 2010-2011, four Northerners received liver transplants through HOPE. In 2011-2012, there were five liver transplants, one islet cell transplant and one partial liver donation from a living donor.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 02:27:55 +0000
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