Frist, Dodd Applaud Passage Of Organ Donation Bill

December 3, 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Bill Frist (R-TN) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) today applauded Senate passage of Frist-Dodd legislation to encourage more individuals to become organ donors. The "Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act" passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week.

"Passage of this bipartisan legislation is the most significant reform to organ donation in a decade," said Frist. "Organ donation is one of the most critical issues before us today. This bill is a necessary step to improve and encourage organ donation so that more patients and families can benefit from life-saving transplants. Public awareness is key to improving organ donation, and I applaud my colleagues for supporting this comprehensive, innovative approach."

"This time of year we are reminded of the important role family and friends play in our lives," said Dodd.

"Organ donations provide the gift of life to so many loved ones around the country and I am grateful that my colleagues in the Senate recognized the critical importance of and acted quickly to pass this legislation. It is a step in the right direction toward increasing public awareness of the importance of organ donation and providing funding to improve the science of donation and recovery."

Today, there are more than 83,000 Americans waiting for an organ transplant, compared with 19,095 in 1989, a fourfold increase. Since 1988, more than 40,000 patients have died before receiving a transplant, with 6,125 dying in 1999 alone. While organ donations have increased by 7.5 percent since 2002, the waiting list has continued to outpace growth, officials said.

The "Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act," which was first introduced last February, offers a comprehensive approach to increasing organ donation, while improving the overall process of organ donation and recovery. Specifically, the bill would improve coordination and evaluation of existing federal organ donation and transplantation research activities. It would establish demonstration projects to discover new opportunities to increase organ donation. The bill would also enhance the coordination of public awareness and the education of health professionals, it was stated.

The science of organ transplantation has been improved and refined since its inception, but too often organ donation efforts are conducted under the same auspices and understandings as they were 20 years ago, officials said. The Frist-Dodd bill "establishes a strong evidence-based approach to enhancing organ donation and recovery and improving our understanding of this process."

Frist has been a strong advocate for organ donation. As a heart and lung transplant surgeon, he performed the first single lung transplant, the first pediatric heart transplant and the first successful heart-lung transplant in the Southeast. In 1989, he wrote a book entitled, "Transplant," to educate the public about the field of transplantation. He then led a statewide campaign in Tennessee to return the organ donor statement to the back of drivers' licenses. In the Senate he pushed through legislation in 1996 to include information on organ donation in the nation's tax return envelopes, and he is a sponsor of the "Gift of Life Congressional Medal Act," which would commemorate organ donors and their families.

Dodd, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Children and Families, has long been an advocate for organ donation issues. In 1999, he and Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH), helped launch the First Family campaign, with the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, to ask families, not just individuals, to pledge to each other to be organ and tissue donors in the event of an untimely death.

Copyright © 2003 The Chattanoogan.

This article posted January 4, 2004.