Why organ donations are declining and how governments are reacting
Why organ donations are declining and how governments are reacting
Canadians support organ donation after death but fewer are registering for the practice, leaving hundreds of people dying while on waitlists each year.
To combat the trend, the federal government passed Bill C-210 in 2021, allowing provinces and territories to add the option of signing up for organ donation when filing taxes.
"What it does is it makes people aware, and it allows the government to contact them with more information about organ donation in their province," Dr. Lori West, scientific director of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, told CTV's Your Morning on Monday. "Part of the reason we think that organ donation is not as optimal as it could be is that people don't learn about it, they don't hear about it, they don't think about it or talk about it."
Specific organs, like the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, small bowel and stomach can be donated after death in Canada, both for research and to people needing a transplant.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says organ transplants decreased 14 per cent between 2019 and 2020, with the highest decrease in pancreases and lungs. Those needing liver transplants had the highest fatality rate on the waitlist, as of December 2020.
By allowing the government to add organ donation information and sign-up in tax filings, more people will be exposed to the need for donations.
And the numbers might surprise some.
"We see the increasing number of people who have end-stage kidney disease, lung disease, heart disease, who aren't able to find a donor because there just aren't enough around," she said.
About 84 per cent of Canadians support the donation of organs and tissue after death, the poll by Research Co. reads, but only 68 per cent say they would become a donor themselves.
The Canadian Blood Services says, every year, 4,100 Canadians wait for an organ transplant, with hundreds dying without ever receiving one. The organization says about 1 to 2 per cent of people who die can be considered for organ donation.
In 2021, for each organ-specific transplant that happened, 2.3 patients were waiting for a pancreas, followed by 1.8 people waiting for a kidney, reads the Canadian Institute for Health Information website.
West says advances in technology and medicine are allowing more people to live while waiting for transplants.
"There are now techniques to sustain those individuals on various types of support for longer," West said. "That adds them to the waiting list of those who are needing transplants to ultimately save lives."
Nova Scotia took organ donation a step further by requiring people to opt out of organ donation. The legislation, which came into effect January 2021, asks people to register their decision to donate all or specific organs after death, or to opt out. If no action is taken the organs and tissue will de be donated under "deemed consent" of the Human Organ and Tissue Donation Act.
"Nova Scotia is the only jurisdiction in North America to have enacted that kind of consent program," West said. "It's a bit too early to see yet what the impact is going to have."
Sign up to receive the most important updates in your inbox two times a week
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, orange, emerging from the surface of cells, green, cultured in the lab. (NIAID-RML via AP)
A senior government official says a Canadian military assessment team is on its way to Turkiye in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
Many Canadians are experiencing strains caused by the increased cost of living and inflation. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the top credits and deductions that you may be able to claim on your income tax return to help you save money.
In a first for the Bank of Canada, it has released a summary of deliberations by its governing council regarding its policy decision to raise its key interest rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 per cent in January. Here are five key takeaways from those discussions.
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
The way respiratory viruses have circulated this fall and winter, most Canadians could probably benefit from a hand-hygiene refresher. Here are the latest hand-washing best practices to apply in your daily life.
Protracted labour shortages in Canada could fuel more rapid wage growth and inflation over time, potentially prompting the need for higher interest rates long-term, a new RBC Economics report released Wednesday said.
The Bank of Canada released a summary of its Governing Council meetings on Wednesday, providing the public and financial institutions with more insight into the central bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate on Jan. 25.
A man has been arrested and two children are dead after a driver crashed a city bus into a daycare in Laval, Que. Wednesday morning. The deadly crash sent multiple children to area hospitals and parents scrambling to find their kids shortly after they dropped them off for the day at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal.
The Bank of Canada released a summary of its Governing Council meetings on Wednesday, providing the public and financial institutions with more insight into the central bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate on Jan. 25.
A senior government official says a Canadian military assessment team is on its way to Turkiye in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands.
An associate of Ontario’s self-described “crypto king” was operating his own fraud scam parallel to the multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, court documents allege.
Humanitarian groups that have been supporting Ukrainian refugees are calling on Ottawa to extend a special immigration program that allows people fleeing Ukraine to temporarily live, work and study in Canada.
It’s been over a year since Faith Emenike filled out an application in hopes that her family would be able to visit her in Canada as she gave birth to her first child—but all she’s heard is radio silence.
The Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for 'several years,' the Pentagon said Wednesday.
In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that struck Syria and Turkiye, Canadians are donating money and supplies to rescue and relief efforts there. CTVNews.ca rounds up ways you can contribute to charities based in Canada and abroad.
Key to detecting the faintest noise, which could be the sign of a survivor buried beneath rubble from Monday's quake in Turkiye and Syria. Among the wreckage of a collapsed 14-story building in the Turkish city of Adana, the shriek of an whistle pierced the noise every few minutes on Wednesday.
Opal Lee, the 96-year-old Texan whose efforts helped make Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S., became on Wednesday only the second Black person whose portrait will hang in the senate chamber of the state Capitol.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to visit troops to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the country's army as he lauded the "irresistible might" of his nuclear-armed military, state media said Wednesday.
An international team of investigators said Wednesday it found 'strong indications' that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 with a Russian missile.
Condolences are pouring in on Parliament Hill after a Laval, Que., city bus crashed into a daycare on Wednesday morning, with federal politicians of all stripes expressing their sympathies with the families affected and gratitude to the first responders.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says that if he becomes prime minister he would uphold the 10-year deals Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is looking to ink with provinces and territories that would inject $46.2 billion in new funding into Canada's strained health-care systems.
A senior government official says a Canadian military assessment team is on its way to Turkiye in the wake of a devastating earthquake that's killed thousands.
According to newly released data, six provinces had increased wait times for walk-in clinics in 2022, with Canadians waiting an average of 37 minutes before seeing a physician.
The way respiratory viruses have circulated this fall and winter, most Canadians could probably benefit from a hand-hygiene refresher. Here are the latest hand-washing best practices to apply in your daily life.
We may soon be able to detect humidity levels, respiratory changes or a too-wet diaper, all with a new type of sensor — one created by drawing with a pencil on specially-treated paper.
Balloons and drones were among 768 reported UFO sightings in Canada last year, according to Winnipeg-based researcher Chris Rutkowski, who also found that eight per cent of all cases remained unexplained.
Microsoft is fusing ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, transforming an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence.
We may soon be able to detect humidity levels, respiratory changes or a too-wet diaper, all with a new type of sensor — one created by drawing with a pencil on specially-treated paper.
Netflix Canada is rolling out its long-anticipated plans to crack down on password sharing, saying it will begin notifying Canadian users today by email about limitations.
A judge on Wednesday set bail at US$300,000 for a former 'Dances With Wolves' actor charged in Nevada with sexually abusing and trafficking Indigenous women and girls. North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Craig Newman said Nathan Chasing Horse must stay with a relative if he is released from jail.
While audiences rush back to theatres to catch 'Avatar: The Way of Water' on pricey Imax screens, the head of Cineplex Inc. says he's open to 'experiments' with cheaper tickets for some movies if they might lure back people who are staying home.
In a first for the Bank of Canada, it has released a summary of deliberations by its governing council regarding its policy decision to raise its key interest rate target by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5 per cent in January. Here are five key takeaways from those discussions.
The Bank of Canada released a summary of its Governing Council meetings on Wednesday, providing the public and financial institutions with more insight into the central bank’s decision to raise its key interest rate on Jan. 25.
The parent company of the master franchisee of Tim Hortons coffee shops in China says it has signed a deal for the exclusive development of Popeyes in mainland China and Macau.
It was Valentine's Day 1917 in the Minnesota farming village of Lewiston, and Fred Roth -- a fourth grader -- seems to have come up with just the way to express his love for his sweetheart, Louise Wirt. He gave her a card.
As Valentine's Day approaches, many Canadians are preparing to celebrate by taking their loved ones to dinner and buying them gifts, but how much are we spending on this day coast to coast?
LeBron James is the NBA's new career scoring leader. With a stepback jump shot with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, James pushed his career total to 38,388 points on Tuesday night and broke the record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar held for nearly four decades.
Big name advertisers from Netflix to Google are paying as much as US$7 million for a 30-second spot during the NFL's Super Bowl championship game on Sunday, in order to capture the attention of the roughly 100 million U.S. viewers who tune in each year.
Surfer Bethany Hamilton says she won't compete at future World Surf League (WSL) events if it upholds its new policy on transgender athletes, saying she wants to see a different division created for transgender people to compete in.
Automakers Renault and Nissan on Monday formalized their reboot of a relationship that had grown rocky, culminating in the spectacular fall of top executive Carlos Ghosn, who had led successful turnarounds at both companies before his arrest and daring escape.
New research suggests that cutting fossil fuel emissions by adopting electric vehicles can improve air quality and potentially reduce respiratory problems in communities. But these benefits may not apply to all neighbourhoods in the same way.
Former NFL player Jim Bob Morris is heading to the Super Bowl in Phoenix from Bloomington, Illinois, in a newly refurbished set of wheels. His ride has new paint, new seating and even a new bathroom.
