Professor Jim Egan:

The threat arising from having a register is that one ends up talking to the converted and that it will be heavy on resources when they need to be targeted at nursing to increase the levels of education and support provided for families. The other potential threat is that it is unlikely we would have a 100% penetration rate across the population. People are, naturally and appropriately, not in this zone. We have heard informally that in other jurisdictions in cases where people had not put their names on the positive register, their families inferred that they did not support organ donation and that they, therefore, should not go ahead and donate. There are some threats in that system. Let us emphasise again that nurses' support for families and education are the jewels in the crown.