Legislation on Organ Donation: An Internet Based Survey

Background: The introduction of a new transplant law in Germany in 1997 failed to close the gap between organs required for patients on waiting lists and organs donated. As consequence approximately 1000 patients die every year in Germany while waiting for an organ. Ten years after introduction of that law we present an internet based survey on the preference of various legislations. Questions about the preference were imbedded in a structured questionnaire and included knowledge based questions about organ transplantation as well as biographical questions. Materials and methods: The questionnaires were mailed to webmasters of universities, as well as public and industrial institutions. The questionnaire inquired biographical data, knowledge on transplantation as well as personal preferences of different legislations on organ donation including modified consent solution (MCS), the consent solution (CS) and the contradiction solution (CDS). Results: 761 people completed the questionnaire. 36 % knew a recipient of an organ and 11 % knew an organ donor personally. More than 90 % knew that kidneys, livers and hearts could be transplanted, however only 40 % respectively 18 % knew about the possibility of pancreas or small bowel transplantation. Three people completely rejected organ transplantation. 55 % referred the current CS, 45 % the CDS. Half of the people preferred the MCS over either the CS or CDS. Discussion: In this internet based survey we found a very high acceptance of organ transplantation, which was independent of the knowledge of organ transplantation or personal relations to organ recipients or organ donors. Among the surveyed persons, women preferred the CS option more frequently than men. Nearly half of the people in the survey preferred the MCS over the CS or CDS.