Delmonico urged Canadian hospitals to assess every death for its potential as organ donor and to notify organ donation institutions. At the same time, he stressed the value of a structure and database to match patients in need of organs and donors.
Due to the absence of information about potential donors, it is impossible to determine if available organs are being harvested and used, or if there is a need for one. Delmonico also batted for the establishment of a national sharing system to allow provinces to share organs.
NDP member Peter Kormos, who tried twice to introduce a bill on organizing a national organ donation system but failed, told the Toronto Star, "As we speak, good organs are being burned or buried across this province because the province insists on maintaining its presumption system."
Kormos said he will reintroduce the bill again this fall to help almost 1,700 Ontario residents waiting for organs. Across Canada more than 4,000 patients are waiting for an organ transplant, while 140 to 250 die annually for lack of donor.
Due to this situation, some sick Canadians have looked for organ donors on the Internet. Two women from British Columbia turned to Facebook and Craigslist to seek kidney donors for their husbands. Since Canadian law requires a relationship between a living donor and a recipient, doctors are wary of organs solicited online, which might involve an exchange of money, which is considered unethical and banned in some countries.
Ken Donohue of the B.C. Transplant Society told the Globe and Mail, "If you come forward with a living donor, a friend, co-worker or family member... doctors can start assessment process right away... You need a pre-existing relationship. If it's a stranger, then the red flags go up."
There is also the medical issue of some recipients rejecting a donated organ if it comes from someone not related by blood.
