With the States months away from considering the introduction of an opt-out donor scheme in Jersey which would dramatically increase the number of Islanders on the register, the family of Jayson ‘Baudy’ Baudains have called for more information to be made available.
Health Minister Andrew Green has said he wants to bring forward a proposal for an opt-out scheme – which assumes consent to organ donation unless people or their families object – in Jersey by the early part of 2018. There are currently just under 14,000 – about 13 per cent of the population – on the register. In the UK that figure is about 30 per cent.
Mr Baudains (20), who was on the organ donor register, deteriorated rapidly after he fell ill in August. Within hours of going to his GP complaining of flu-like symptoms he collapsed into a coma. He died of suspected meningitis two days later when his life support machine was switched off. (Full story: Page 8.)
Today his grandfather Basil Carré has said Jayson’s family, including his mother, Kim Murray, want health authorities to make it clearer to those on the register that their families may face ‘intense and personal questions’ about their loved one at a traumatic time.
He says he does not want to put people off joining the register, but that families should be properly prepared.
‘I think there should be a way of preparing families. We know the implications, we knew he signed up to the register, we are proud of that, but we think there should be pre-warnings about this stage,’ he said.
Mr Carré described an NHS nurse flying over to Jersey to ask questions about Mr Baudains’s life, questions he could not remember because he was so shocked at the time, and said his grandson’s girlfriend was also quizzed about their sexual activities.
A team from the UK was also due to fly over to harvest Mr Baudains’s organs but, according to his grandfather, they were delayed.
‘He was pronounced dead on the Thursday but they actually kept him on life support for his organs. But it got to Friday and his mother just said if it’s not done by 4 pm we just want it off. You want closure.’
The family understands that the organs were never used.
Mr Carré, who lives in St Ouen, said the family were in no way critical of Mr Baudains’s care but wanted authorities to make donor procedures clear so that families could prepare themselves.
‘People do not realise how intense and personal these questions are. It is very, very distressing. The Hospital or someone should prepare families for how distressing these questions are. You’re absolutely struggling to come to terms with your family falling apart and then you have to face all these questions for 30 to 40 minutes. It was so much,’ he said.
The Health Department was asked to clarify the procedures before organs are harvested. A spokesman said they were waiting for clarification from the central organ transplant team in the UK.
