Political Quotes

“We are writing to lodge our strong objection to consideration of H.R. 2418 by the Senate. This bill would reauthorize the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA) in a manner that would adversely affect patients in many states including our own, who are desperately in need of organ transplants. Every year, over 4,000 people die waiting for an organ transplant. The organ allocation policy established by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) has been inequitable. Patients with similar severities of illness are treated differently, depending on where they live or at which transplant center they are listed. Patients in some parts of the country wait much longer than patients in other regions, who have the same level of illness. So for some, the chance of dying before they actually receive a transplant is much higher than for others. Over the last 3 years, 97 people died while waiting for an organ transplant at the University of Chicago, 187 died while waiting at the University of Pittsburgh, 99 died while waiting at Mt. Sinai, NY, and 46 children died while waiting for an organ at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh.”