Automatic organ donations rejected
The introduction of "presumed consent" for the donation of vital organs has been rejected by a government taskforce.
The UK Organ Donation Taskforce - an independent advisory committee - will detail the reasons for the decision later.
It comes despite Prime Minister Gordon Brown appearing to favour an overhaul of the existing law which would require people to actively opt-out of the donor register if they did not want body parts transplanted after death.
The Taskforce, headed by NHS West Midland chairman Elisabeth Buggins, is understood to have found no evidence that any opt-out system would make a "significant" difference to the number of organs available.
A similar system in Spain was found to have not been a factor in the number of organs donated.
An estimated 8,000 people in the UK currently need an organ transplant but only 3,000 operations are carried out each year. Around 1,000 people in the UK die every year after waiting for a transplant.
Many patients' groups are strongly opposed to the "presumed consent" system and the Prime Minister himself voted against the proposed system in 2004.
However, earlier this year he indicated he was now more favourably disposed to the change.
"A system of this kind seems to have the potential to close the aching gap between the potential benefits of transplant surgery in the UK and the limits imposed by our current system of consent," he said.
The Taskforce includes a number of healthcare professionals and lawyers.
