In 2015, the total number of patients on the French donation waiting lists was 21,464, and only 5,746 of them received a transplant . But this figure could well increase since the law on organ donation in France has recently evolved.

If organ donation legislation retains the main principles adopted in 1976, namely presumed consent, free donation and anonymity to organ donation, it is now possible to register online in the national register of refusal managed by the Biomedicine Agency if one does not wish to be a donor.

Organ donation: a simplified procedure

Until now, anyone who refused to donate their organs had to write a letter to the Biomedicine Agency to be registered in the register of refusals, or to express their choice to their relatives, who could express themselves in its place.

From now on, the measure is simplified and more framed: if one does not wish to be a donor of organs, one simply subscribes to the register of refusal of the Agency of biomedecine on Internet ( www.registrenationaldesrefus.fr ). The procedure is simple: just photograph or scan a double-sided ID and specify which organs are refused. Registration is revocable or modifiable.

It is also possible to write a note of official value that is kept on oneself, or that one entrusts to a person of trust.

It must include his first name, name, date of birth, date of the day, as well as his signature, and specify, in a simple sentence, that one does not wish to donate his organs. One can also talk about it to his relatives, who will have to retransmit in writing this wish to the medical corps at the time of the death.

The goal? Reduce the number of organ donation refusals

Jean-Pierre Scotti, president of the Greffe de Vie foundation explained a few months ago on the website francetvinfo.fr that this new law was going to "strengthen the presumed consent, but also simplify the refusal modes".

Professor Bastien, of the Biomedicine Agency, on France Info, said for his part that "the register of refusal and simplification should make it possible to lower the refusal rate." According to the latter, "in In 2015, out of 40% of the refusals, a third came from relatives who said that the deceased had opposed it. But the remaining two-thirds represented families who had never spoken about it and who opposed it in pain. "In fact, this new procedure will also" reduce this period of painful uncertainty for loved ones at the time of death. ".

If, despite everything, a person registered on the organ donation refusal register changes their mind, they will be able to completely withdraw their name from the official lists and become an alleged donor again.