A new government rule aimed at increasing the organ donor pool by requiring hospitals to report all deaths to organ procurement organizations may be in jeopardy.
The Associated Press reported on July 17 that Representative Ernest Istook of Oklahoma is leading an effort to overturn the regulation. Istook has inserted language into a spending bill that would stop the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from enforcing the rule. Although the Associated Press said that "Istook has run into no significant opposition in his effort," the fate of the spending bill was uncertain. The same bill, if passed, would also delay implementation of HHS's more controversial regulation--to change the organ distribution system from a geographically based system to one that is based on medical need.
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