“I would have everie man write what he knowes and no more.”–Montaigne BRITISH JOURNAL OF ANAESTHESIA

A historic opportunity to improve organ donation rates in the UK Organ transplantation saves lives and improves lives. It trebles the life expectancy of patients with end-stage renal failure compared with dialysis1 and improves their quality of life immeasurably.2 For liver, lung, and heart failure, transplantation is often the only alternative to premature death. The very success of transplantation has led to a sig-nificant increase in the demand for donor organs over the last decade, but there has not been a similar increase in their availability. In the UK, demand for donor organs now far outstrips their supply and although the relative shortage of donor organs is a worldwide problem, the dis-appointing aspect of the situation in the UK is that, although many countries have been able to increase cada-veric donation, deceased donation rates in the UK hav