A Dutch television programme, in which a terminally ill patient chooses a contestant to receive her kidneys upon her death, has caused controversy across Europe but it has at least awakened the debate on an EU-wide organ donor card.

Whilst an opinion poll carried out by the European Commission in 2006 found that 81 per cent of EU citizens think that carrying a donor card is a good idea, the proportion of people that actually carry a card is much lower. As the BBC website highlights, 40,000 patients in the EU are on waiting lists for a transplant, with up to ten people a day dying waiting for an available donor.

As a result, the EU’s Health Commissioner yesterday put forward proposals to introduce a Europe wide organ donor card that would be valid in all member states. It is hoped that an EU donor card would help tackle transplant waiting lists and increase the number of organs available for transplant operations across all member states.