The knee-jerk reaction of the world’s press to BNN’s kidney donation tv reality show is yet another example of being quick to condemn without having all the facts. Of course the show is in dreadful taste and of course it is ghoulish in the extreme, but that is exactly what the show aims to be.

Last week it emerged that 25% of the Dutch population will refuse to donate their organs – even though they would probably be quite happy to accept a transplant if they needed it. Now that is really sick.
The BNN show has done more to draw attention to the shortage of donors than any government advertising campaign. The donor in the show is perfectly willing to take part – the three people who want to win her kidneys are all making a serious point. They each have a 33% chance of winning a kidney. But in the real world, their odds are far, far worse. Now that is really appalling.
BNN targets a younger audience. And if its Great Donor Show manages to make young people more aware of the shortage of donor organs and if some of them sign up to the national registry, then it will have achieved its purpose and help save lives.
There is nothing tasteful about dying because others are too selfish or squeamish to donate their own organs after their death. No, that really is really obscene.