It is not so long ago that Eire, for some reason, which I never clearly understood, and with a population of only 4.1 million, were contributing to the United Kingdom’s finances for some reason or other, by subsidising some project in the North. Yet here we are, a little more than a year further on, finding that they are reducing the subsidies on non-catholic, denominational students in segregated education, by 30%.
Recently I lost my hearing aid, with the result I tend to miss chunks of almost every conversation, and so, I doubted that I had heard correctly, that Gordon Brown was proposing legislating that the removal of any or all body parts of a cadaver for transplant, would be totally legal and an irrefutable right. It was only when my daughter came into the house complaining about this edict, that I was prepared to reassess it. My daughter was complaining that the government had no right on any grounds for making this removal of organs compulsory if required. Both she and I feel that it is a step too far, a rejection of the rights of the individual, and in my case, I find it totally inconsistent, because the individual is not allowed to do away with himself, even in the most dire circumstances, and if all necessary responsible conditions would be fulfilled.
There are a lot of us who in our wills have donated our bodies to universities, and or, filled in those forms for allowing removal of organs for transplant. It appears that the offers are too low so the uptake is also too low for the system to function for everybody who needs a spare part. What I really suspect is that laziness, forgetfulness, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, has caused a large proportion of the population not to fill in a form, which in most cases would neither matter to the individual once he is dead, nor to the average relatives. If I am right, a campaign to make the public more aware, would seem to be the logical way forward. I am friendly with a Jewish family, and I remember at one point there was considerable discussion, either about an operation, or a death, because at the time it appeared that in the Jewish religion a person must be buried whole. I found this interesting when you consider the Israelis, with their running battles, how impossible it would be to collect up all the bits if someone happened to be in the path of a cannonball. On the basis of the Jewish religion, they would have to be made exempt on religious grounds, and this could seriously open up another can of worms, which might be hard to stop.