The coalition rejected Wednesday a bill proposed by MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) that could have solved the organ shortage in Israel.
The bill would amend the existing Anatomy and Pathology Law so that a doctor would be allowed to operate on a corpse in order to use part of it to cure a person, if at least one member of the deceased person's family was notified and given reasonable advance warning before the operation. A doctor would be allowed to use a part of a deceased person's body to save the life of another person even if a relative was not located, providing that there had been a reasonable effort to notify a relative until the last moment at which the life-saving operation could still be carried out.
The proposed law stipulates that if the deceased had objected to the operation before dying, or if a relative objects after he dies, the body will not be operated upon. MK Eldad said that his proposed amendment would only clarify the present law, which essentially says the same thing. “The hareidi objection to carrying out the letter of the Anatomy and Pathology Law directly causes the deaths of about 100 people every year,” he said.
"Several years ago, the Attorney General determined that despite the law's phrasing, the relatives must give their approval in any case of post-mortem surgery, even for taking organs for saving life, and thus annulled an important principle which is aimed at saving human lives,” he explained.