Next time you request a new passport you might also be asked if you want to become an organ donor. This is one European idea to increase transplant donation. MEPs want to adopt common quality and safety standards to boost Member State cooperation and comb

Donating a life

But a lung transplant   gave her a second chance.

I thanked the donor by letter,   via the transplant centre.

In it I said that I was   very happy that I could live,

and that I would take   great care of my new lungs.

It was the only way   I could show my gratitude.

Josiane was lucky.   Here at the Erasmus hospital in Brussels,

she waited only four months   because her case was so serious.

But often the wait is longer   due to a lack of compatible organs.

Some 600,000 patients are currently   on European waiting lists.

Twelve people die every day   before they receive grafts.

To facilitate transplants   the EP approved a law

that draws up common quality   and safety standards.

This directive assumes   that we should always know

We’ve put a system in place and   conditions that regulate organ donation.

All these measures,   by definition, fight illegal trafficking.

MEPs want national authorities   to be set up in each country

There are currently only two independent   networks that link some EU countries.

At the same time a European action plan   will ask citizens to become donors

for example when they request   a passport or driving licence.

For patients there’s only one imperative:

what counts is to live,   by any means, but to live.