The act of giving up one’s organs for donation is surely one of the most commendable things which a human being can do.

On this issue, we feature the story of a 62-year-old man who had a heart transplant 11 years ago. The donor was a 31-year-old Gozitan who had fallen to his death from a balcony.

In what is perhaps an even more noble gesture than signing oneself off as an organ donor, the dead man’s family agreed to give his heart to a person who was direly in need of it.

In a sense, it is perhaps one of the most taboo issues in the world. Giving consent for the donation of a body part of your own (or that of a loved one) to another person, would perhaps feel like a violation of a memory.

But it can also be interpreted in other ways. It seems that one of the most comforting approaches for bereaved families is the knowledge that a part of their beloved son, daughter, husband or wife, is living on inside the body of another person. It also brings people comfort in the sense of bringing about something good from something tragic. It is looked at as one final good deed that the donor performs to save the life of another person.

There is evidence that Maltese people are the most willing Europeans to have their organs donated after their death, but even though a person may register as a donor, it is up to the next of kin to give the go-ahead.

The Transplant Support Group (www.transplantsupport.com.mt) accepts applications from anyone who wants to have a donor card. Last year, the group received applications from about 4,000 people and until June this year, another 1,000 applications were submitted. The group then passes on the applications to Mater Dei’s ITU.

Transplant Support Group estimates show that it processed about 35,000 to 40,000 applications since the group was set up 10 years ago.

The government is in the process of drafting new identity cards which would also feature inbuilt data about health records. The support group has suggested that persons should be able to indicate whether or not they want to allow their organs to be donated through the same system.

There is also the issue at stake of whether next of kin should have the final say if a person decides that their organs should be harvested. In a sense it is tantamount to a last will and testament and one has to think of the fact that they would be violating a person’s last wish.

It could also open up a potential can of worms if a person was actually to list their organs in their will, and that could open up the avenue for law suits. But it would all be pointless. The vast majority of organs must be harvested within hours of a person’s passing and even then, they can only be kept on ice for a very short time.

While it is understandable that next of kin might feel a reluctance to allow their loved ones’ organs to be harvested, it really is a case of respecting the wishes of a person who has actually given their go-ahead. In a sense, it is like challenging the will of a person who has decided to bequeath their wealth to a third party in a will, and not have it shared amongst relatives. If that is a person’s decision, it should be respected.