Gov. Casey Leaves Legacy for Patients Awaiting Organ Transplants

PHILADELPHIA

PRNewswire -- When doctors announced in June 1993 that Pa. Gov. Robert Casey would die without a liver and heart transplant, few people close to him were surprised. Casey's health problems dogged him throughout much of his career as Governor.

Despite some of the controversy and myths surrounding Gov.Casey's transplant, the experience helped focus attention on the organ donor program and educate millions about the needs of patients clinging to life while awaiting transplants.

Among the many contributions that Gov. Casey made as one of the state's most prominent public servants, few are aware of his subsequent efforts to help save lives through organ donation and transplantation.

In November of 1994, Gov. Casey's action and support ensured that a bill designed to increase organ and tissue donation in Pennsylvania not only survived, but that it received the attention and urgency that it deserved. The bill was passed as Pa. Act 102 and was one of the last laws signed by Gov. Casey before he left office. By assuring the bill's passage, Gov. Casey helped create the most comprehensive state organ donor law in the United States.

That new law required that hospitals report all deaths to the donor program to guarantee that families were offered the option of donation; provided funding for the first statewide donor awareness and education programs; created a donor registry through the drivers license program and also made it possible for the state to recognize families of donors by assisting them with costs associated with the donor's death.

Within just a few years of its passage, Pennsylvania was experiencing the most dramatic increases in organ and tissue donation in the history of transplantation. By the end of 1999, Gift of Life Donor Program had experienced a 62 percent increase in organ donations and more than 4,600 patients in the region had received lifesaving organ transplants since 1994. Tens of thousands of others have benefited from sight-restoring cornea transplants, bone grafts to restore mobility and treat cancer and skin grafts to help burn victims. Approximately 3.1 million Pa. residents have shown their support for donation by designating organ donor on their driver's license.

The unprecedented increase in lifesaving organ transplants captured the attention of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services prompting changes in Federal regulations in an attempt to emulate Pennsylvania's law. Today, Pa. Act 102 not only serves as the model organ donor law in the United States, but also for Canada and other countries that have proposed similar laws based on Pennsylvania's experience.

In the year 2000, more than 3,400 men, women and children await organ transplants in Gift of Life Donor Program's region. Their only hope lies with the families who decide to donate organs and tissue. However, Gov. Casey's personal experience and his concern for helping others, has paved the way for others to receive the gift of life.

Gov. Casey made organ donation an important public health issue that Pennsylvanians have supported more than anyone else in the nation. Gov. Casey will be remembered by all of those families who have benefited from the gift of life.

Howard M. Nathan is the President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program, the nonprofit organ donor program serving the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

Contact: Howard Nathan of the Gift of Life Donor Program, 215-557-8090.

Copyright © 2000 At Home Corporation.

This article posted June 19, 2000.