# Organ donation



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Under legislation dating from July 2009 all persons who are officially resident in Portugal are considered to have consented to give all their organs after death unless they have gone along to the Centro de Saúde [ health centre ] and completed and signed the form to withdraw their consent. If you fill the form in you can withdraw all consent or you can agree to donate some organs but not others; and you can change your mind as often as you like by filling a new form in each time.

The basis of the legislation is that each person's decision is paramount. After a person's death then the only thing that matters is what they put in writing on the proper form before they died. The views of the relatives are of no consequence and the doctors do not even have to seek relatives consent before taking an organ provided that they have checked and confirmed the deceased is not on the national register of non-donors.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Thanks Siobhan.

Are living wills recognised here in Portugal?


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

travelling-man said:


> Thanks Siobhan.
> 
> Are living wills recognised here in Portugal?


Living Will
This is a phrase which has different meanings in different places. Here in Portugal it refers to the instructions a person gave in writing while he still had the capacity to make those decisions about how we wanted to be treated, or not treated, by doctors and other medical care providers, once he no longer had the capacity to make such decisions. You cannot ask anyone to kill you once you reach a certain point in your life as that will be murder but you can say at what point you want the medical profession to stop treating you, except presumably to limit pain and prevent discomfort, and to allow you to die. or you might want to say that you want the medical fraternity to keep you alive as long as possible even if you are unconscious and have no quality-of-life.

The law says that doctors and others must "respect" your wishes. That gives them a certain amount of leeway as you can respect wishes without actually obeying. one thing though is quite clear:- if a medical professional's conscience does not allow him to act in the way that you wish then it is up to that person to find somebody whose conscience is not troubled by your wishes, and to continue to provide treatment until he or she can do so.

There is no form to fill in to create a living will. You can simply write a letter and take it to the Notary's office to have your signature authenticated, at a fee of €6.00. It is clearly desirable that such a letter is in Portuguese as one in English would be of little value unless the medical professionals concerned spoke English


INFORMATION FROM A CLEWED UP FRIEND


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Yes Law 25/2012, which came into force on August 2012, has admitted the use of living wills in Portugal. 
Not sure how this is affected by your Birth Nationality, I presume that as division of estate must be legal in that country then a Living Will would also need to be legal in that country, unless of course it's treated as a totally seperate issue


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

OK. Thanks. 

Siobhan's last para really tells me what I need to do.

I had a living will in RSA which stipulated at which point of decline I don't want to be treated further (bar pain medication etc) so I'll just have someone translate that to Portuguese and have it authenticated by the notary.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

It has to be re-newed every 5 years but can be terminated at any time, I'd have an English version attached so relatives are aware


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