Editorial: Some politicians have manipulated the organ transplant donor debate by overstating the impact of a change in the law

​Now up to 200 a year such operations are performed around the country. It is one of the most important advances in medicine.

In Northern Ireland, everyone’s sympathy and goodwill has gone out to Dáithí Mac Gabhan, aged six, and his family as he continues to wait for a heart transplant. The Belfast boy has been waiting for four years.

Available hearts for transplant are very rare, numbering in the low hundreds per year in a society of 70 million people. A heart that is suitable for a young child is an even rarer gift.

By far the strongest argument for an opt-out donor system of presumed consent, in which only people who specify that they do not want to become a donor, is the scarcity of organs. The number of hearts is so small that it is right to examine all feasible options for increasing the donor pool.

But while Dáithí’s family deserve great admiration for their tireless bid to get him a new heart, some politicians have manipulated the story in disagreeable ways.

As the former MLA Jo-Ann Dobson has pointed out, Stormont could have passed this law in 2015. But there are (this newspaper would say inadequate) arguments against opt-out. A letter opposite articulates that case.

Moreover, the change in law, while worthwhile, will not necessarily result in a heart becoming swiftly available for Dáithí, as is the clear implication of much reportage of this matter (let us hope, though, that a donated organ does arrive soon). Dr Esmond Birnie in this paper challenged the idea that the law will lead to radical improvement.

Finally there is the clear route to law change: Westminster. Stormont powers should be repatriated there until politics here ceases to be a ‘process’ and becomes a settled way of governing.