Dick Durbin: “More than 50,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants and hundreds of thousands more need tissue transplants.…”

“More than 50,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants and hundreds of thousands more need tissue transplants. Every year, thousands die needlessly due to lack of donors. In 1996 alone, 3,916 people on the transplant waiting list died because no organs were available for them. Nearly one-fifth of all heart and liver transplant candidates die while waiting for organs. Every 18 minutes another person is added to the waiting list for organs. Each day, eight people die because an organ was not available. Yet since 1986, hospitals that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid Program are required to have in place policies to offer eligible families the option of organ and tissue donation.”