The Role of Technology in Organ Donation

In Germany, for every million people in the population, there are only 11.5 deceased people from whom organs may be taken. In Austria, the comparable figure is 25.4. Countries requiring explicit consent for organs to be removed after death have fewer organ donors than countries in which consent is presumed unless one explicitly refuses it. Just as we tend to leave unchanged the factory settings on a computer, other kinds of defaults can make a big difference and save thousands of lives.