Spurred into action by the death of a 12-year-old girl awaiting a heart transplant, Argentina is about to make everyone an organ donor. The lower house of Congress unanimously passed a bill late on Wednesday that makes all citizens in the nation of 44-million donors unless they explicitly express otherwise. Only 287 citizens had elected to donate their organs in 2018, according to government statistics. The bill, which had already passed the Senate unanimously, was named "Justina’s Law" after Justina Lo Cane, who died in November waiting for a heart transplant. Her family attended the vote Wednesday. The law now heads to the offices of President Mauricio Macri. It is similar to legislation passed in other nations, such as France and the Netherlands. There are 7,727 Argentineans waiting for organ transplants. It wasn’t immediately clear how someone could declare they did not want to be an organ donor. Bloomberg

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.