Page 1087 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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The government strongly supports the intent of this bill. The amendments which follow are made to reduce the complexity of the bill, to avoid unintended impacts and to allow it to be successfully implemented. Firstly, the amendments would refine the definition of “tissue donor” for the purpose of the bill so that the amendments will apply to deceased tissue donations and not extend to living tissue donations made during the person’s lifetime. This amendment is necessary to address the complex nature of tracing living tissue donations.
A particular complexity of living donations is the scope and number of these donations, which can include by-products of joint replacement surgeries such as hip or knee replacements. In 2019 this form of tissue donation constituted about 90 per cent of all living tissue donations in Australia. During a donor’s lifetime, tissue donations may have been made at a place outside the ACT or even outside Australia. Significant time may have passed between the tissue donation and the registration of the donor’s death in the ACT.
The scope and timing of living donations create a range of difficulties for the registrar-general in verifying these donations. Nationally there were 3,504 living tissue donations in 2019 alone, compared to 548 deceased tissue donations. Another obstacle in accurately identifying living donations is that states and territories have inconsistent interpretations of the term “tissue”, with some jurisdictions having very broad definitions which would include breastmilk donation, while others have much narrower definitions.
While the government acknowledges that living tissue donations are also altruistic and worthy of recognition, these donations are not so intimately connected with the death of an individual. It is not consistent with the functions of the registrar-general to record health information across a person’s lifetime in a register entry relating to death. Limiting the operation of the bill to deceased tissue donation would make verification of donations more straightforward and preserve the integrity of the register.
A death is registered in the ACT if it occurs in the ACT. For all deceased tissue donations in the ACT, I understand the donors’ next of kin will receive an acknowledgement letter from DonateLife, which may be provided to the registrar-general as evidence of the deceased donor status.
The second amendment the government is moving will remove from the bill a process of obtaining a letter of acknowledgement from the Chief Minister. While the government supports this policy and the Chief Minister has just indicated his personal commitment to it and the government’s commitment to it, we believe that this can be better implemented as an administrative process through the Chief Minister’s office, which does not require the involvement of the registrar-general.
It is important to note that a letter of acknowledgement and a change to the register recording deaths are two distinct processes and need not necessarily be linked. It may be important to a family to have a letter from the Chief Minister, but they may not wish to change the register entry. These families need not have to go through an
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