More than 2,500 life-changing transplants were missed last year because bereaved families objected to organs being donated.
Figures show people dying in circumstances where loved ones were unsure of their wishes is costing hundreds of lives. NHS Blood and Transplant data shows 67% of UK families who were approached agreed to donate in 2018/19.
Families declined to support a donation after death in 1,064 cases, but only 229 of these said the patient had expressed a wish not to donate.
In 835 cases, they objected for other reasons, the most common being that they were unsure whether it was what their relative would have wanted.
The average donor is able to donate three organs, so the NHSBT estimates 835 refusals meant 2,505 organs were wasted.
While families do not have a legal right to veto, NHS medics do not go ahead with transplantation if they are opposed to it.
This will remain the case after the law changes to presumed consent next spring following campaigning by the Mirror.
Anthony Clarkson, of NHSBT, said: “Even after the law changes... families will still be approached before donation goes ahead. We urge everyone to register their organ donation decision... and tell your family the choice you made.”
'Giving' dad William helped eight others after death
William Moore became an organ donor after collapsing suddenly from a heart attack while waiting for a bus, aged 70.
Although medics battled to save him, a day later he suffered a bleed to the brain from which he would never recover.
His organs helped eight people, including four babies who received heart valves.
His daughter, Angie, said: “When we were asked about organ donation, it wasn’t something we had discussed and none of us were sure what dad would have wanted. But he was such a giving and generous man that we decided to agree.
“Later, my husband remembered a conversation with Dad on the golf course. Dad had said something off the cuff along the lines of ‘They can have anything they like after I am gone. I won’t need it’.
“Hearing how many lives Dad had saved confirmed we had done the right thing. I am so pleased we agreed to donate.”
She urged others: “Please don’t wait. Talk about organ donation today.”
