The above consent rate for organ donation is an interesting study in how we (humans) work. No, the Danes and the Germans don’t covet their organs more than most Europeans, they’re just victims of poorly designed forms. In the 4 countries on the left, the DMV forms that ask if you want to be an organ donor ask you to “opt in,” they presume that you don’t want to donate organs but allow for the option to do so. In the countries on the right the only difference is that the form presumes that you DO want to be an organ donor. Of course there’s a box on the form that allows you to “opt out” but as you can see, the end results as far as consent is concerned, are quite different. Perhaps in a world that is perpetually short on donor organs, we should all join the countries in blue and presume consent?
The above graph was found in a blog entry by “Dan Ariely”:http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=5 at “PredictablyIrrational.com”:http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?p=235&date=1