Human tissue bill paves way for more organ transplants to save lives

The bill was brought forward amid concerns that limitations imposed on doctors meant organs were unnecessarily damaged before transplantation.

"The new reform takes away these barriers," Mr Piper said.

He said it introduced a process for consent and approval for "ante-mortem interventions to determine, maintain or improve the viability of tissue for donation".

This process would be allowed "as long as those interventions do not hasten the death or cause more than minimal harm or undue risk to the potential donor".

"This is a reform that can literally save lives," Mr Piper said.

Ante-mortem interventions include giving organ donors medication, blood and tissue tests, organ function assessment, infectious disease screening and blood transfusions.

Organ donation cannot occur without procedures to determine suitability for transplantation. This includes organ matching with suitable recipients and maintaining organ function and viability.

Ethical debates about these interventions had involved avoiding harm to the patient and valid consent for non-therapeutic medical procedures.

The federal Organ and Tissue Authority's guidelines state that these interventions were "considered ethical if their potential benefits outweigh potential harms".

Further, these procedures were ethical when organ donation was consistent with a patient's wishes.

Mr Piper introduced the bill last November after meeting with organ donation advocates and medical representatives.

Australian Medical Association NSW president Michael Bonning said the bill would help ensure "minor medical procedures can be undertaken to safeguard the organs".

"Organ donation is the greatest gift one person can give another," Dr Bonning said.

"Our expert transplant doctors have shown that small interventions can make a huge difference in ensuring the transplant has the greatest chance of success."

Before the bill was passed, only a potential donor could consent to ante-mortem interventions, a NSW government "statement of public interest" said.

The bill would enable a process for others to consent to these interventions "where the person is very close to death and lacks capacity.

This included a person's "senior available next of kin".

If such people were not known and available, a designated officer may authorise interventions if they were satisfied the donor had provided written consent to organ donation.

Mr Piper said that introducing a process for consent to ante-mortem interventions in NSW was "a small and practical reform".

He was confident it would "significantly improve outcomes for organ donation recipients".