Laws May Boost Organ Donations

By Hemesh Patel

Daily Bruin

University of California-Los Angeles

(U-WIRE) -- In the wake of new federal legislation, coordinators at organ procurement facilities are optimistic they can increase the number of potential donors.

Three federal laws concerning organ procurement procedures went into effect in 1998 in an effort to encourage organ donations. UCLA's own organ procurement center was closed last year after failing to meet government standards.

"Organ donation saves lives. But in too many cases today, we are missing opportunities to save people simply because families are never contacted and donation is never even considered as an option," Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

A recent Pennsylvania study showed that consent rates increased when two people confronted families.

In the past, a single physician or nurse would approach family members of the deceased about the possibility of donating. But with new regulations, organ procurement coordinators will be brought in to confront family members about the possibility of donating organs, in an effort to increase the number of possible donors.

"The new legislation has allowed for a systematic response for the hospital to call in all deaths including imminent brain death," said Cheryl Bode, director of corporate development for the Southern California Organ Procurement Center.

The legislation also states that organ procurement agencies be granted the right to access all hospital records and they will refer 2.1 million deaths annually to the organ procurement programs.

"By requiring hospitals to report all deaths and imminent deaths to organ procurement agencies, we hope to increase the supply of organs and thus reduce the number of people on waiting lists for organ transplants," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, in a statement.

Procurement agencies had until 1999 to educate hospitals on the new legislations.

Coordinators for organ procurement centers are most concerned about the growing number of people on the transplant waitlist and believe that the new legislation will encourage organ donation.

"There are 62,000 people on the national waitlist for organ transplants. The government had to step in because the list is so huge," said Simone Brown, coordinator for the SCOPC.

As the largest organ procurement agency in the country, SCOPC took over the UCLA-based Regional Organ Procurement Agency in September of last year when it was decertified because it did not meet five required standards upon inspection.

"When HCFA looked back at 1994, 1995 and 1996, they said we didn't meet all of the standards and we knew that," Gary Cottongim, then-executive director of ROPA, said in a previous story.

The standards consisted of the amount of kidneys recovered, kidneys transplanted, extra renal organs recovered and extra renal organs transplanted, in addition to the amount of donors per million.

Because of ROPA's termination, SCOPC now serves all of Southern California, from Orange County to Ventura County.

"The challenge for SCOPC and the country is to maximize the number of potential organ donors as the number of patients on the waitlist is growing at an exponential rate compared to the number of donors," Bode said.

Laws May Boost Organ Donations

Transplant News