Woman raises awareness about HOTA after brother gets organs removed without family’s consent

Aisyah Attan recently had to go through the heartbreaking experience of seeing her brother pass away in hospital last Friday after he collapsed on the way back from visiting a clinic. 

Adding to the grief of her family was seeing Singapore’s Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) in action, in which the kidneys, heart, liver and corneas will be removed in the event of death of all citizens and Permanent Residents of ages 21 years and above. The only way not to get your organs removed when you die is by opting out of HOTA during your lifetime. 

Aisyah’s brother, however, did not opt out of the Act. As such, doctors took his healthy organs after his death, as was required by law. His family could do nothing to stop them, despite their protests, and Aisyah took to Facebook in anger to condemn HOTA. 

Photo: Facebook

She took down the post after calming down, but remained critical of the Act, deciding to spread awareness of the option to opt out of it — because there is simply no other way to stop the authorities from procuring organs in the event of death. 

“It doesn’t matter if your next-of-kin disagrees. It doesn’t matter who in this world disagrees. There are no loopholes in this HOTA system. Trust me, we have tried everything,” wrote Aisyah on Facebook. 

She continued to disagree with how her brother’s death was handled, calling it “stealing” instead of donating.

“When someone robs you of your money or property, they are treated as criminals and will be punished according to the law. But why, when these people come and take these organs away from your loved one without your consent, is no one punished but the family themselves?”

Though Aisyah and her family have since accepted the providence, she doesn’t want anyone to feel coerced to opt out of HOTA — but she feels it’s important that everyone knows they have the option to decide. 

“No one should go through this pain. It wasn’t my brother’s fault for not signing and opting out. It was the HOTA people’s fault for not reminding.”

For the patients who’ll receive her brother’s heart, liver, kidneys and other organs, she hopes that they’ll pray for him and visit his grave — it’s the least they can do for having a second chance in life thanks to him. 



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on