Implementation of a government regulation that would require organs to be distributed on the basis of medical need rather than geography may be delayed for more than a year.
Implementation originally was slated for July 1 and then postponed until October. However, under a Department of Health and Human Services spending bill that awaits approval by the House and Senate, the rule may be postponed again until November 1999, the Associated Press reported on June 24. The potential further delay "represents a win for the [United Network for Organ Sharing], which has encouraged transplant centers across the country to lobby their representatives in Congress against the rule," the Associated Press said.
The dispute between the government and the transplant community over how to distribute organs went to Capitol Hill on June 18 in a joint hearing of the House Commerce Committee and the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. UNOS has posted transcripts of the testimonies given to the committees by UNOS President Lawrence G. Hunsicker, MD, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, and a number of other proponents and opponents of the new rule.
Meanwhile, the public also had a chance to voice its opinion of the proposed allocation rule. About 83% of respondents to a Gallup poll released on June 17 favor the distribution of organs to the sickest patients. However, about three-quarters of the respondents said that the way organs are allocated would not affect their decision to donate organs.
In related news, on June 17, Dr. Hunsicker wrote a lengthy letter to the transplant community responding to a letter he received from Earl Fox, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, and a letter Shalala wrote to 181 members of Congress describing the current geographic-based allocation system as unfair. Dr. Hunsicker's letter specifically responds to ten government criticisms of statements UNOS has made about the proposed allocation system. See www.unos.org/Newsroom/archive_other_regs_response_061798.htm.
Please be aware that medical advice, diagnoses and physician references cannot be obtained from this site.