Inform your loved ones of your choice regarding organ donation. The Dutch Transplant Foundation makes this call during the Week of the Donor Discussion. The organization hopes that people will start talking to each other in order to avoid painful surprises in the event of death.
“How you think about donation is important to know about each other,” says Jikke de Vries. As donation coordinator of the WZA, she monitors the donation procedures in the hospital. “At the end of your life you can no longer tell yourself and the doctor’s family will be told how you are registered. If you have not discussed it with each other, it is sometimes an unpleasant surprise for the family. “
Since 2020, everyone aged 18 and over has been included in the Donor Register. You can indicate here whether you want to be a donor. You can also leave the choice to your family. Anyone who does not register anything automatically indicates that they have no objection to donation.
“Talking about death is sometimes still a taboo,” notes De Vries. “There are people who do not want to talk about choices after their death or who get the feeling that someone wants to take something away from them when it comes to organ donation. “He is already starting to talk about my organs and I am not even dead yet.” Those kinds of assumptions and beliefs make it difficult to talk about it.”
The Donor Interview Week is important to break the taboo, says De Vries. “It’s not about wanting to grab or take something. Donation is based on solidarity. You either agree or not. That’s what it’s about. A doctor only wants to know what you wanted. It’s also for the recipient It’s still nice to know that he or she received an organ from someone who wanted it.”