Federal officials, local doctors and people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants are battling over whether donated organs should be given geographically or based on who is sickest.
But Utah Rep. Jim Hansen and his friend Leon Sorenson, vice president of the Utah Medical Association, believe the real question is more fundamental: How do you increase the number of organs available for transplant?Monday, Hansen announced he's sponsoring a bill he hopes will do just that. His proposal would give organ donors a $10,000 tax credit. And the medical association is providing a grant to provide doctors educational materials that encourage discussion about organ donation to give to their patients.
The issue has been an intensely personal one for Sorenson, who was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a degenerative liver disease that has killed, among many others, football's Walter Payton. Last fall, he was placed on a waiting list for a donor liver. And Hansen, his friend and neighbor, shared his frustration with the wait, which happily turned out to be much shorter than expected.
March 25, while traveling to Miami on business, Sorenson was notified that a liver was available. He rushed back to Utah for what turned out to be a 101/2-hour surgery. And he's doing great, he said.
But he's the exception, rather than the rule. In Utah in 1998, only 52 people who died became organ donors. Granted, most people don't die in circumstances that make it possible. But that's only about one-third of those whose deaths would have permitted organ donation. Nationally, between 13 and 15 of the 70,000 people waiting for an organ donation die every day. In most cases where someone could be an organ donor, but isn't, either no one asks or the family turns down the request, according to Intermountain Organ Recovery System staffers.
Locally, 243 patients are on organ waiting lists; another 1,000 need tissue donations.
"I can't tell you how far short of the organs we need we are," said Dr. Terry Box, one of Sorenson's doctors. "In Spain, donations are three times what they are here."
Hansen, R-Utah, said his bill would provide a $10,000 tax credit for the donation of organs on the death of an individual. That means there's no incentive -- or tricky ethical question -- to "sell" an organ. Families who donate a loved one's organs could apply through a program that would be operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The tax credit would belong to the person who died. When someone dies, someone else has to file a tax return for that individual. In the case of an organ donor, the tax credit would accrue to the estate, where it could be used to reduce estate taxes, reimburse the family for funeral expenses or whatever else was decided when the will is executed.
Hansen is clear that he doesn't know how well the bill would solve the shortage of donated organs. But he's hopeful.
"If this made more organs available for people to use, then we would have done something right," he said.
"If nothing else, perhaps it will heighten awareness."
Sorenson's thriving since his liver transplant, although he's had two episodes of rejection, one of them quite serious. He feels good and many of the symptoms, like memory loss, are gone now.
It takes more than filling out a form to become an organ donor, he said. Family members will still make the decision. So it's important to communicate your wishes to your loved ones.
He wants to communicate to those same loved ones. It's a gift, he said, that can't be overvalued. He will spend the rest of his life being grateful to the family of the young man who gave him another chance at life.
You can reach Lois M. Collins by e-mail at lois@desnews.com