Organ Donation Improvement Act of 2003

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 399, the Organ Donation Improvement Act of 2003, of which I am a cosponsor. Let me just mention one number, that for me, says it all about why we need incentives to increase organ donations across the nation. In Michigan, over an 11-month period ending on December 1 of last year, 2,420 individuals were waiting for organs, and 164 people had died while waiting. These are our constituents, our families, our friends. I know the Transplant Society of Michigan, our state's organ procurement organization, is working hard to increase donations. But they could use a helping hand, as could OPOs across the nation. The Organ Donation Improvement Act we are marking up today is a very good start.

As of September 2002, the organ transplant waiting list had more than 80,000 men, women, and children waiting for a new kidney, heart, liver, lung, pancreas, or intestine. Unfortunately, an average of 17 people die every day, one every 85 minutes, waiting for an organ that could have saved their lives. H.R. 399 takes aim at increasing anatomical giving to help meet the critical need for vital human organs and give hope for life for those that have no other options for treatment or cure.

The key to donation is public education and awareness. This legislation gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the ability to award grants to States for the purpose of assisting States in carrying out organ donor awareness, public education and outreach activities designed to increase the number of organ donors. While there is a desperate need for vital human organs, the American public should know that there is also a continuing need for donated human eyes and tissue. Donation is the term used to describe the humanitarian act of giving to help another. Anatomical gifts include vital, life-saving human organs, sight restoring eyes, and repair and reconstruction human tissue such as bone, cartilage, tendons, skin, and heart valves.

At national, state, and local levels, a partnership exists between the organ, eye and tissue bank communities. While all three communities are considered separate, given differences in medical criteria, training needs and distribution pathways, they are united in their message to encourage the act of donation. Organ donation saves lives, eye donation restores sight, and tissue donation provides skin grafts for critically injured burn patients and benefits thousands of patients in need of bone, cartilage, tendons, and heart valves. Without a donor, transplant surgeons cannot save and improve the health of even one individual.

Every individual can sign-up to be a donor, regardless of health or medical condition. It is imperative, however, that individuals openly discuss their decision to donate with family and friends so that they may help honor their loved one's wishes and are knowledgeable about their options. Just one individual can save and improve as many as 50 lives. Representatives of hospitals, organ banks, eye banks, and tissue banks work hand in hand to see that loved ones' wishes are respected and that gifts are properly handled for the benefit of others. I commend these organizations for working tirelessly toward this end and for their efforts to educate the public on the benefits of donation.

In closing, I fully encourage all Americans to consider the altruistic act of donation and to make others aware of your decision.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may be permitted to control the time of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, Illinois and many other States have the ability to sign the back of their driver's license to give the gift of life, which is organ donation. That is in addition to the legislation that we have here on the floor today. I am pleased that the House is considering H.R. 399, the Organ Donation Improvement Act. This legislation builds on existing Department of Health and Human Services programs and encourages more Americans to give the gift of life.

Medical advances and the generosity of organ and tissue donors enable more than 22,000 Americans per year to receive organ transplants that save or enhance their lives. Despite their self-sacrifice and charity of these donors, this is only a small proportion of the more than 76,000 Americans who are now on the waiting list hoping to prolong their life by finding a matching donor.

Tragically, the number of patients waiting for organ transplants rose more than five times as fast as the number of transplant operations in the 1990s, according to an annual report by the United Network for Organ Sharing. As a result, about 5,500 people die in the United States each year, or 15 patients each day, while waiting for a donated heart, liver, kidney or other organ. It is estimated that every 16 minutes a new name is added to this growing waiting list.

As the demand for transplantation increases, the shortfall in organ donors for those with end-stage organ disease or organ failure will become even more pronounced. In order to narrow the gap between the supply and the increasing demand for donated organs, there must be an effort to encourage willing donors and create an environment conducive to organ donation.

H.R. 399 accomplishes this objective by permitting the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants to States, transplant centers, qualified organ procurement organizations, or other public or private entities for the purpose of providing for the payment of travel and subsistence expenses incurred by individuals who are making living donations of their organs.

In addition, the bill requests the Secretary to carry out studies and demonstration projects for the purpose of educating the public with respect to organ donation. These grants will assist the States in carrying out organ donor awareness, public education, and outreach activities, programs designed to increase the number of organ donors within a State, including live donors.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for his dedication in moving forward with this legislation. There is no greater gift than the gift of life. I also thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Chairman Tauzin) and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are very supportive of this legislation, and we were able to bring this up expeditiously.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. John) for yielding me this time. I commend the gentleman and all of the members of the subcommittee, and all of those who have brought this matter to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 399 and the need to continue awareness and education programs for organ donation. I was very pleased recently to be part of the 6th Annual National Donor Day at the Chicago Automobile Show on February 14 with the Illinois Secretary of State, the Honorable Jesse White, and Connie Payton, the widow of football legend Walter Payton. This is the single largest 1- day blood, organ and tissue donation drive in America.

However, we know that the drive and awareness brought to this great need should occur and is needed to occur more than just 1 day during the year. I am proud to represent five of the six world-class hospitals in Chicago that are part of the National Marrow Donor Program's network of transplant centers, including Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush- Presbyterian, Children's Memorial, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Loyola Medical Center. These hospitals play a major role in not only making the public aware of the great need of donation but carrying out safe organ transplant procedures.

This need is particularly present in the African American population where African Americans make up less than 10 percent of the 4.8 million donors on the registry. On any given day, more than 80,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant. That number continues to rise by a new name every 14 minutes. Each day, 63 people receive an organ transplant, but 16 people will die because an organ is not donated. Fifty percent of those waiting for an organ transplant are minorities. Almost a full third of those waiting for an organ transplant in the United States are African Americans; 35 percent of those waiting for a kidney transplant are African American.

Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas, and liver are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population. For example, African Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics are three times more likely to suffer from kidney failure than whites. Native Americans are four times more likely than whites to suffer from diabetes.

Some of these diseases are best treated through transplantation, and others can only be treated through transplantation.

This legislation will allow States to receive grants to assist in organ donor awareness, public education and outreach activities, and programs designed to increase the number of organ donors within States, including living donors. It will assist in getting the word out that if one person does the simple task of signing a donor's card, 50 people will be able to receive an organ donation and begin a new, healthy chapter in their life.

Mr. Speaker, again, I am pleased to support this legislation, commend all of those who had a hand in bringing it to the floor, and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding me this time, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 399, the Organ Donation Improvement Act of 2003. This bipartisan bill was unanimously approved by the Committee on Energy and Commerce in February, and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this timely legislation.

Mr. Speaker, we are all aware of the great need for donated organs and tissue. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there are 80,791 people currently waiting for a transplant. Sadly, only 18,693 individuals had received a transplant as of September 2002, and more than 4,500 Americans died, died while on the waiting list.

Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, there is hope. Living donors represent a growing segment of the total organ donation pool. In fact, living donors represented over half of all donors in the first 9 months of 2002. That is why H.R. 399 authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants for the purpose of covering travel and subsistence expenses incurred by living organ donors. While the decision to become a living organ donor is an intensely personal one, I feel that it is our responsibility to remove any financial barriers that might prevent someone from making the gift of life.

H.R. 399 also provides the Secretary with $10 million in new grant authority to assist State governments and public and nonprofit private entities in developing innovative initiatives designed to increase organ donation rates, including living donation. I am hopeful we will learn some valuable lessons from these demonstration projects that we will be able to apply on a national scale.

H.R. 399 is widely supported, Mr. Speaker, by the transplant community. Organizations supporting my bill include the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Society of Transplantation, the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Liver Foundation, the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization, the Patient Access to Transplantation Coalition, and the Eye Bank Association of America.

Mr. Speaker, while I would never suggest that this bill encompasses every meritorious idea to increase organ and tissue donation, it is a very good bill and takes a positive step forward in our effort to ensure that every American has access to a donated organ or tissue when they need it.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support H.R. 399, the Organ Donation Improvement Act of 2003. This important measure takes steps to increase donation activity to meet the demand for life-saving human organs. Human anatomical donation is truly the greatest gift one can offer to another. This humanitarian act looks beyond one's self and to those in need--to children, young adults, parents, and family members--whose lives we value and whose future we safeguard.

H.R. 399 makes note of the importance of family discussions and encourages families to express their desires and openly pledge to help others through the act of donation. Americans have the ability to choose to give gifts that restore sight, save lives, and improve the health of others through organ, eye and tissue donation. While the need for organs is a well-documented fact, the need for donated tissues and eyes should also be stressed. Many Americans do not realize that those who cannot become donors of organs for various medical reasons can still save sight and improve the health of others through eye and tissue donation. It is therefore of critical importance that when families do discuss their wishes to give anatomical gifts, they are knowledgeable about all of their opportunities: to save lives; restore sight; and improve the health of others through the donation of their organs, eyes, and tissues. These precious gifts give life, improve health and advance medical science for those who often have no alternative hope for treatment and cure.

In 2001, there were 24,076 organ transplants giving life; 33,000 cornea transplants restoring sight; and 900,000 tissue transplants improving physical function and health. These impressive statistics demonstrate the generosity of the American people. Yet, more donors are needed to meet the need for life-saving transplants, sight restoration procedures, repair of wounds and severe burns. Education and awareness is the first step toward bridging the gap to meet the need for more anatomical donors. In closing, I encourage all Americans to take the time to discuss with family members the most precious gift a person can give--one's organs, eyes and tissues--to better mankind.