Goodhew Jo: Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Goodhew Jo: Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:12900] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
 I rise to speak to this Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill with some sadness in my heart. Although the previous speaker Lesley Soper is absolutely correct that the National Party has not opposed the recommendation of the Health Committee its members nevertheless have seen the whole process that has been gone through when the two bills—the Human Tissue Bill and the Human Tissue (Organ Donation) Amendment Bill—were considered in the select committee at the same time. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if Jackie Blue’s member’s bill had been the only one being considered—and I see some members opposite nodding—because there is a huge feeling amongst New Zealanders that somehow we need to do something to address the donor shortage. 
We heard heartfelt stories. We heard a story from the parents of a young man who had drowned. His mother described him as a loving giving young man and she said that no one had asked them whether maybe he could have donated some of his organs. Although that was not uppermost in their minds at the time she wishes now that he had had a chance to give because she believes knowing him as well as she did that he would have liked to give. Thirty-eight people out of a possible 104 donors were donors in 1999-2000. 
It is a sad tale and during the course of the debate on these two bills it really hit home to me because a very close friend of my mother’s rang my mother to say that her niece had died in the South Island; she had died very suddenly of a brain haemorrhage. But her organs had been kept going on life support for some time and that family was taking comfort in the fact that they knew her wishes and that she would be an organ donor. Just a day or two later a very close friend of mine who lives not far from my home rang to tell me that a close friend of hers was so excited because her husband was going to be travelling to Auckland to receive organs. I could not help but feel—and maybe I was right and maybe I was wrong—that maybe I was close enough to know that on this occasion one life have been saved most certainly saved. In fact my understanding is that many many lives were saved because of that young woman being able to donate her organs. That was a great story and it brought things home to me during this whole process. 
I commend Jackie Blue for bringing this bill to the House and I commend Andy Tookey for bringing the petition to Parliament. I know that their passion will not go away and that they will be watching very closely to see whether we have any improvement and whether education programmes or any actions on the part of New Zealanders can bring our organ donation rates higher. We know that in the Human Tissue Bill there is provision for a register because there is still debate about whether a register can be useful. 
We know now in respect of drivers’ licences that ticking the box about whether one wants to be a donor is a very interesting process. Most young people will get their licences when they are very young. I know that our teenaged daughters—our 17-year-olds and our 15-year-old—have all been through the initial test and have been asked to declare whether they want to have their organs used for donation. It is a very very big question to ask a 15-year-old. I would have to say that most 15-year-olds do not really know what they are answering. It is not really surprising given that they are still quite young and have not discussed their wishes with their families that when the time comes that they are in a potential donor situation their family may not know what they want; they may not tick the box because the thought is too horrible that they might die young. 
The concept of having an organ donor register in the future is perhaps cold comfort or maybe just slightly warm comfort—I am not sure. But the debate on this bill has been useful. It has raised the profile of the issue. Many New Zealanders have read articles in the paper. I know that some of the magazines have got on board more and have printed the stories of donors and also of recipients. That is pretty neat because that is the sort of thing that gets people talking around their kitchen tables. That is the sort of thing that gets families discussing—“Well it happened not too far from me. Should we talk about what we really want?”. 
Again I commend Jackie Blue for bringing this bill to the House and for generating such discussion around the breakfast tables of New Zealand. The health professionals who came to the Health Committee and submitted in the process of this bill had to search their souls too because there was a question about who should decide whether one’s own wishes about one’s body should be paramount and whether health professionals should be able to take the wishes of the family rather than the organ donor to heart. So they had to search their souls when they came to the select committee and told us where they thought their responsibilities lay in the event that they were part of the process of asking a family whether they would give permission or of determining whether organ donation would take place. 
In closing I say that this has been a very useful debate and I am sad that the bill will not go any further forward though I am relieved that there is provision in the other bill for an organ donor register. I commend the Health Committee for discussing this bill fully.