Driving licence applicants asked to join organ donor register

[dipsydoodle]

Anyone applying for a driving licence from Monday will be obliged to answer a question about joining the organ donor register, the health department has announced, in an attempt to boost the numbers of potential donors.

Those applying for a licence online will be obliged to tick one of three boxes about the register as a condition of completing the form.

They can say they would like to sign up there and then, that they are already on the register or that they would like to think about it on another occasion.

A similar question existed previously but it was optional and many applicants missed or ignored it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/31/driving-licence-organ-donor-register

If anyone has got a Hammond B3 then please donate it to me now. A Leslie loudspeaker to go with it would also be welcome. :)

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I'm holding out for a Mellotron

Seriously, I think this is a very good approach - you can make online applications so they have to make a decision, without pre-filling it for them. That way, the whiners that 'presumed consent' is against some right or other don't have a leg to stand on (heh, maybe they donated them :evilgrin:)

From the BBC article:

When a similar scheme was introduced in the US state of Illinois, donor registration jumped from 38% to 60%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14341553

Example of bad-faith whiner:

And last night Tory MP Peter Bone described the measure as ‘Big State gone mad’.
...
‘I don’t remember this being discussed in Parliament and what they are saying is, “We’re going to stop you getting something you’re entitled to and ask you about something which is not relevant at all to what you’re applying for”.

‘They could extend this to when you apply for a passport or anything. It’s a back-door way of forcing people to decide whether they want to go into organ donation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020613/No-driving-licence-say-donate-organs.html

Of course, I knew that, to find someone objecting to a way of saving lives via government action, all I had to do was look in the Mail. :eyes:

[dipsydoodle]

2. If you've got BBC iPlayer

you can listen to this on the subject of mellotrons.

Nigel Ogden: The Organist Entertains - Rick Wakeman, Part 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012r97g/Nigel_Ogden_The_Organist_Entertains_Rick_Wakeman_Part_2/

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Heh - thanks! (nt)

[Nihil]

4. Damn - missed it!

Am just catching up after a week of peace & quiet so iPlayer have wiped
the programme ...
:-(

Shame about that - I find Wakeman brilliant to listen to (+ watch).