Surgeon Professor Matthias Anthuber from the University Hospital Augsburg (UKA) was pleased that the Contradictory solution for organ donation discussed again will – at least in the Bundestag factions. In the interview with BR, the president of the professional association of German surgery in Bavaria explained the position of transplant doctors: “It is not unreasonable to expect someone to express themselves during their lifetime.”
Tired waiting – always in vain
People in Germany who depend on an organ donor often no longer live to see the life-saving transplant because the support systems in this country are not unlimited – like living with an artificial heart or on dialysis. “We are an island of unfortunate people because there are 25 European countries around us the objection regulation with great acceptance by its population”, says Anthuber. UKA specializes in kidney transplants – and faces a problem: “Patients sometimes wait eight to ten years for a donor kidney.”
Expert: Resolving objections is not a compulsion to donate organs
The university hospital transplants around 30 kidneys per year, 25 of which come from organ donors, according to Professor Anthuber – and most of them come from Croatia, considered a leader in organ donation. “No one will go through organ donation the solution to the contradiction is forced, this is not automatic“, said Anthuber. In a community of solidarity, it is not too much to ask the state to speak out, said Anthuber. It is important for him to remove people’s fear of the contradictory solution, “which angry surgeons are waiting in clinics for accident victims , where they remove organs without asking: that won’t happen.”