By RICHARD POWELSON
Scripps Howard News Service
Monday, May 14, 2007
Congress is considering a new congressional medal for organ donors and their surviving relatives.
Democrats and Republicans from several states are backing the proposed medal program and want to name it after former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, a one-time heart-and-lung transplant surgeon. Frist was among those in past years seeking more support to pass a "gift of life" congressional-medal program.
At the least, supporters say, the medals would be fitting recognition for those who helped others live longer with transplanted organs. Also, proponents say publicity about the program could increase awareness of how to register to give organs.
"I don't know if we're going to see huge increases in donation" if the program becomes law, said Dr. Jeffrey Crippin, a liver specialist in St. Louis and president of the American Society of Transplantation. "But I would say even if it helps one person get through the process ... then it's done some good."
About 100,000 Americans on any given day are seeking organs for transplant, but an average of 17 die daily while waiting in vain, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
A majority of them await a kidney -- more than 70,000, at last count.
The kidney foundation is among several organizations supporting the congressional medal for donors and their families.
"It certainly could help increase awareness," said Troy Zimmerman of the foundation. "If you increase awareness, then that could lead to perhaps more organ donors. But that's not the primary intent. It's more just a way of recognizing the sacrifice" of donors.
The United Network for Organ Sharing, which matches organ donors and coordinates transplants across the country, also endorses the medal.
It could be a pleasant remembrance for family members of "the good that came out of the tragedy of losing their loved one," said the network's Anne Paschke.
Before his first election to the Senate in 1994, Frist in 1986 helped start the heart-and-lung transplant program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and later worked with others successfully to get organ donor cards on the back of Tennessee driver's licenses.
In the Senate, Frist helped pass a law to insert donor cards and information in mail containing income-tax refunds. He and a Democrat, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, also were able to help pass improvements in the national organ donor program. Frist retired from the Senate last year.
Last year, 14,757 donors nationally provided organs allowing 28,932 transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
On the Web:
http://www.donatelife.net (How to pledge to become an organ donor)
http://www.optn.org (Organs needed at transplant centers)
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