If We Only Had a Heart
April 20, 2001 (Washington) -- Waiting for an organ transplant? Better settle in for the long haul, then, as the waiting list for donor organs now includes more than 75,000 people, a record high. And 17 of these people die every day in the U.S. waiting for an organ that never shows up, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
That kind of dilemma prompts all sorts of solutions, and the ideas range from mild to wild.
This week, Tommy Thompson, President Bush's newly appointed health secretary, announced a national push to encourage people to fill out organ donor cards -- everywhere from the workplace to driver education courses. Right now, he noted, half of families refuse to donate the organs of their newly deceased kin. Donor cards can prompt families to take a different attitude.
With taxes still on everyone's mind, Thompson added that he favored the idea of including an organ donor consent form -- with a $50 tax exemption -- with federal income tax returns.
"I think it's a great idea," he said. "I support that, whether or not Congress would."
But to significantly increase donations, even more creative steps may be necessary, says Stu Youngner, MD.
"We have to do things that aren't obvious or easy, and push on some sacred cows," says Youngner, director of the biomedical ethics center at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland.
In one example of sacred cow-tipping, Boston's New England Medical Center announced earlier this month that it had started a program that would move a patient needing a transplant up the waiting list if a friend or family member donated an organ to someone else on the list.
"This new system encourages donation and enables loved ones to fulfill their wish," said Richard Rohrer, MD, chief of transplant surgery at that center.
But federal law makes it illegal to buy or sell organs, which makes Thompson uncomfortable in embracing the move.
"There is a question of the law as to whether or not that is actually getting paid for doing something, which is illegal," he said. "That is being investigated."
If We Only Had a Heart
April 20, 2001 (Washington) -- Waiting for an organ transplant? Better settle in for the long haul, then, as the waiting list for donor organs now includes more than 75,000 people, a record high. And 17 of these people die every day in the U.S. waiting for an organ that never shows up, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
That kind of dilemma prompts all sorts of solutions, and the ideas range from mild to wild.
This week, Tommy Thompson, President Bush's newly appointed health secretary, announced a national push to encourage people to fill out organ donor cards -- everywhere from the workplace to driver education courses. Right now, he noted, half of families refuse to donate the organs of their newly deceased kin. Donor cards can prompt families to take a different attitude.
With taxes still on everyone's mind, Thompson added that he favored the idea of including an organ donor consent form -- with a $50 tax exemption -- with federal income tax returns.
"I think it's a great idea," he said. "I support that, whether or not Congress would."
But to significantly increase donations, even more creative steps may be necessary, says Stu Youngner, MD.
"We have to do things that aren't obvious or easy, and push on some sacred cows," says Youngner, director of the biomedical ethics center at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland.
In one example of sacred cow-tipping, Boston's New England Medical Center announced earlier this month that it had started a program that would move a patient needing a transplant up the waiting list if a friend or family member donated an organ to someone else on the list.
"This new system encourages donation and enables loved ones to fulfill their wish," said Richard Rohrer, MD, chief of transplant surgery at that center.
But federal law makes it illegal to buy or sell organs, which makes Thompson uncomfortable in embracing the move.
"There is a question of the law as to whether or not that is actually getting paid for doing something, which is illegal," he said. "That is being investigated."