Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to start by thanking the member for Canberra for drawing the parliament’s attention to organ donation. It is an issue very close to my own heart. Just three weeks ago I wrote a column for one of my local newspapers urging people to become donors, so I value the opportunity to raise the issue here today in this parliament. For anyone listening to or reading this debate, I would like them to take away two key messages: firstly, that Australia’s organ donation rate is not high enough and we need to do more; secondly, that it is absolutely vital you talk to your family and friends about becoming a donor.

Organ and tissue donors save lives. One person’s organ can save up to 10 people, most of whom are extremely sick and have endured very long waiting lists. As the member for Canberra has already noted, there are approximately 1,700 Australians on waiting lists at any time. They range from children to the elderly. Sadly, despite the number of people waiting, we have one of the lowest organ donation rates in the developed world. Most families do not even know their loved ones’ wishes.

In 2005 the former coalition government established the Organ Donor Register so that people could make their intentions known by registering their consent or objection. Doctors can now access that information 24 hours a day. What is vital to note is that registering your intention is not legally binding. That means that, when you die, your next of kin still has the final decision on whether or not your organs can be taken. Therefore it is imperative to discuss your decision with your family and friends. Even better, discuss it, register online and then remind your loved ones about it every couple of years.

Donating organs is a chance to give the gift of life, and not just to one person. For example, last year alone 247 donors gave 799 Australians a new chance in life. Seven hundred and ninety-nine lives is an amazing figure, and I cannot possibly describe what an amazing gift those people and their families receive. However, we need to do better because we still have people dying on waiting lists.

In the Hunter we are fortunate to have had donors at both John Hunter Hospital and Newcastle Mater Hospital. Figures from the Australian and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry show that at the John Hunter Hospital there have been 158 donors in the past two decades between 1989 and 2009. At the Mater there have been two in the same period.

In 2006 alone, the John Hunter had eight multiple organ donors, the highest for any hospital in New South Wales. The success of John Hunter Hospital is due in part to its involvement in the national organ donation collaboration. Twenty-one other Australian hospitals also take part in order to increase donation rates by improving their systems and best practice, and providing families with information and support. I believe that providing accurate information to people is absolutely crucial and it is something that I want to focus on. Sadly, there are a number of misconceptions about organ donation which I have heard in my years as a local member. I do believe that these contribute to our modest donor rate. I would like to try to dispel some of those misconceptions.

First is the idea that a doctor will not work to save your life if you are a donor. Doctors work every day to save lives. Doctors will do everything in their power to save your life. According to our government’s Donate Life website, doctors are extremely unlikely even to know whether you are on the donor registry before you have been declared legally dead.

Second is the notion that the body will be disfigured from the collection of organs. According to the Donate Life website, surgeons only take what is needed, with the minimum number of incisions, and they will repair those incisions. Prostheses can also be used if bones are taken.

Third is the misconception that only people who make bad lifestyle choices need new organs. Those on transplant waiting lists include those who have inherited a genetic condition, many of whom are just children—those with cystic fibrosis or congenital heart defects or who have suffered from a severe infection. There are also approximately 9,000 Australians now on kidney dialysis. I vividly recall picking up the Newcastle Herald earlier this year and reading the story of one donor recipient from the Hunter region, Jesse Hirst. I would like to recount that article by Gabriel Wingate-Pearse here today because I think it shows what an amazing gift organ donation is. I quote:

Jesse Hirst calls it his “best Christmas present ever”, a double lung transplant on Christmas Day that has given the Charlestown 16-year-old a new chance of life.

Jesse, who needed new lungs in his battle against cystic fibrosis, said he hugged his father when he woke early on December 25 after three hours in surgery.

“I told him it was the best day of my life,” Jesse said.

The article goes on:

Jesse’s father Simon Hirst said his family was very grateful for his son’s chance at a better life.

“In the initial stages, when they first talked about putting Jesse on the organ donor list, we felt like we were actually waiting for someone else’s brother, or sister, or relative to pass away so that our son can live,” Mr Hirst said.

“We were looking for a happy Christmas where someone else was going to have their worst Christmas. But then you think their family would get at least some relief from the fact that someone benefited.”

Mr Hirst said he had always been a potential organ donor.

“Some people really wrestle with that thought but … it’s the best thing you can do,” he said.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects various organs, but particularly the lungs, by clogging them with thick, sticky mucus.

Jesse, who had his first operation when he was eight hours old, was told weeks ago that his last hope was a lung transplant. He was put on a ventilator and transferred from John Hunter Hospital to St Vincent’s by helicopter.

Jesse said that as the days passed he began worrying that a transplant would never happen.

“After a few days I got a bit scared, because you start thinking, ‘I am not leaving until lungs come and I could be here for months’,” he said.

His spirits lifted when a nurse told him he had been through the same thing.

“He actually had [cystic fibrosis] just like me and he’d had a transplant 11 years ago,” Jesse said. “That made me feel really good, like if he can get to 11 years, I could get 20.”

But the teenager admitted he felt so ill in the lead-up to the surgery, “I really thought I was going to die”.

Then, at 3pm on Christmas Eve, a surgeon took Jesse’s mother Jackie aside and told her a set of lungs was on its way.

That story really touched my heart and it is just one of hundreds. Sadly, however, not all of these stories have a happy ending. That is what we need to fix. We need more happy endings. I call on the parliament to consider the importance of organ donation in its future decisions. I also call on everyone to sit down and talk to their families about organ and tissue donation.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to say a sincere and heartfelt thank you to the families and friends of every single organ donor. I am so sorry for your loss and I am also grateful that you found it in yourself to give the ultimate gift to someone else. I hope that your gift of life sets an example that millions of Australians will follow.

I often think about my younger brother Bill. He is a type 2 diabetic and his kidneys have gone. How different his life would have been if he had been able to receive a kidney transplant years ago. The kidney disease that comes about with diabetes has led to further complications where he has now had both of his legs amputated and his eyesight is going, but he still retains his sense of humour. There are people who just want to live and who would rely on a generous gift, a generous donation, to enable them to live. Instead of being hooked up to a dialysis machine for around five hours every second day, Bill could have had a quality of life which would have made a substantial difference in the ability to work and to be out there in the community doing what he enjoyed doing. So I say to all Australians: please think about becoming an organ donor and let your loved ones know of your intentions. Again I congratulate the member for Canberra for bringing this motion before the House today.

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