Prioritising Organ Donors

It has often been proposed to give those who are currently registered organ donors priority on the organ transplant waiting list. This would not mean that those who aren’t willing to donate would not be entitled to an organ; however they would be required to wait behind those who are registered donors. The population of the United Kingdom is approximately 61,113,205. There are currently 17,871,486 registered donors in the UK. This means only 28% of us have joined the Organ Donor Register. As a result, more than 10,000 people in the UK are in need of a transplant. Of these, 1000 per year – that's three a day - will die waiting as there are not enough organs available. This should not continue, I support this argument as I believe it would increase the number of people willing to donate, thus saving more lives.
Why would anyone be selfish enough to expect an organ yet not donate one?
Those who oppose this argument claim there would be less deaths and a better response to an ‘opt out’ system; where it is assumed you wish to donate before birth unless informed otherwise. They believe there would be a higher rate of donors as almost 80% of Brits claim they would happily donate their organs, but they just “haven’t found time to register”. They believe since people aren’t finding time to register, they might not find time to ‘opt out’ either, therefore there would be more donors. On the other hand, supporters of the argument are aware that that they will find the time to ‘opt out’, if they are not being given a reward for donating and are given no penalty for ‘opting out’. This then leads back to the idea of the ‘prioritising donor policy’, the public would have a severe penalty if they chose not to donate. They would be living with the risk of death and most would immediately register to secure a good place on the waiting list in case they ever needed it. Although this may seem drastic, it must be done in order to save as many lives as possible.
Another argument...