Support the Organ Donation Clarification Act

OPINION:

People die every day. Without being too cavalier, it’s a fact of life that we learn to accept, except when those deaths occur needlessly because something could have been done to prevent them.

The latest estimates indicate that 17 deaths occur every day among people on the list awaiting organ transplants. It’s not because they lack the funds to pay for the surgery or because there aren’t enough surgeons and facilities to perform the operations.

These people die because there aren’t enough viable organs to fill the need.

In many cases, nothing can be done to improve the chance that a patient on a transplant waiting list will survive long enough to receive what is needed. Each of us has only one heart and one set of lungs. For that to change, medical science will have to come up with the kind of dramatic innovations that, as yet, are the stuff of science fiction.

It’s entirely different for kidneys. Almost everyone is born with two and can have a complete, productive, meaningful, active existence with just one. Yet the wait for a kidney in some parts of the United States can be five, even 10 years. That’s often longer than a patient can survive.

Here’s a grim statistic: In 2020, of the 91,000 people experiencing renal failure on the transplant waiting list, fewer than 6,000 received a kidney from a live donor. For a civilized and advanced society, that’s an unacceptable percentage.

We can do better. And if Reps. Doris Matsui, California Democrat, and Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, get their way, we will. They have introduced legislation in Congress that should spark an increase in the number of kidneys available for transplantation by removing the barriers faced by potential donors.

Under current law — the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 — the buying and selling of organs in exchange for “valuable consideration” is prohibited.

As for what that means, confusion reigns. As interpreted now, some believe that includes offers to pay a donor’s medical expenses and reimburse them for wages lost during recovery.

It doesn’t, but the bill’s sponsors say the lack of clarity and severe criminal penalties stemming from violating the law leads to uncertainty, making reimbursement difficult and possibly discouraging family members who might be a match from participating in the process.

Another thing that needs to be resolved is the treatment for a person who donates a kidney for transplant purposes. Should their remaining kidney fail, should they be pushed to the top of the transplant list? The correct answer, in our judgment, is yes.

Clarifying the rules governing organ transplants makes sense. It will save lives and billions in tax dollars. The End Stage Renal Disease Program accounts for over 7% of the Medicare budget.

The average annual Medicare spending on a dialysis patient is $90,000. More than 75% of dialysis patients between 18 and 54 are unemployed, often relying on their families or other government programs for support.

Encouraging more donations by creating pilot programs to measure the impact of incentives, as the Organ Donation Clarification Act does, could be the first step toward revolutionizing transplant activity in immeasurable ways.

The data makes the merit of the idea obvious. A kidney transplant pays for itself in less than two years. Each transplant saves an average of $146,000 in medical costs over 10 years, 75% of which is savings to taxpayers.

And by helping dialysis patients return to the workforce and exit other social service programs, the measure has a small but meaningful impact on economic growth.

Incentives work. Some proposed in this area include funeral benefits for deceased donors and health insurance, tuition assistance, or other proposals to increase the number of living donors.

Recent research indicates that 65% and 80% of Americans would support such a program. There’s no good reason not to do it.

Much has been made lately about the polarization in Congress. Reps. Matsui and Wilson are to be credited for their bipartisan work to make a beneficial difference in the lives of so many people. Their colleagues should join them in support and get this bill to the White House so the president can sign it without delay.

• Peter Roff is a fellow at several Washington-based public policy organizations and is a former writer and columnist for U.S. News & World Report and United Press International. He can be reached by email at RoffColumns@gmail.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, and TruthSocial @TheRoffDraft.