Political Quotes

“these disparities were first brought into sharp focus in the 1997 Report of the OPTN: Waiting List Activity and Donor Procurement, and now even more so in this recently released HHS data. Why the median liver transplantation rate during one year for ``listed'' candidates in Chicago would be 23% and 83% in Milwaukee is unconscionable. Equally disturbing is that a patient of blood type ``O'' would have a median waiting time of 721 days in western Pennsylvania and just 46 days in Iowa. As we can see from the facts under the current allocation system, often a critically ill patient in one region can go without a life-saving organ while a healthier patient in another region--one with a larger supply of organs--can be treated as a priority. In meeting this standard of equity, the HHS regulations can help to prevent what has become an alarming and extremely parochial trend--that of states passing ``local first'' laws or resolutions. Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona and Texas have either passed laws or resolutions or have proposed such laws that strive to keep organs in their respective states, while not necessarily allocating these organs to state residents. This is a critical distinction: Patients often travel from other states for the high-quality care offered by large transplant centers, which generate considerable revenue.”