clipped from: www.telegraph.co.uk   

Gordon Brown has thrown his weight behind a move to allow hospitals to take organs from dead patients without explicit consent.

The proposals would mean consent for organ donation after death would be automatically presumed, unless individuals had opted out of the national register or family members objected.

But Mr Brown, who carries a donor card, has made it clear he backs an even more radical revamp of the system, which would lead to donation by "presumed consent". The approach is modelled on that of Spain, which has the highest proportion of organ donors in the world.

The taskforce report - to be released on Tuesday - calls for a senior doctor to be appointed in every hospital as a "champion" of donation, along with a lay person to spread the message about the importance of donation locally.

"If, as a doctor you have turned your thoughts to your patient being a donor when they are still living, that is a real conflict."