State weighs law on organ donation

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State weighs law on organ donation

By TOM BALDWIN
Gannett State Bureau

TRENTON

New Jersey, where the wait for organ transplants is unusually long, moved Thursday toward becoming the first state to mandate that the key decision -- to donate or not -- is made well before death's bewildering grip.

"The point of this legislation is to move the discussion out of the emergency room and into the living room," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex.

"This is a seismic cultural change," said Codey, highlighting four new filters New Jersey residents would face in deciding whether to become an after-death donor.

First, people getting drivers' licenses would have to declare if they wanted to donate. Those who don't say yes would either have to designate a decision-maker on their behalf or check a box acknowledging the importance of making an organ donation decision.

Separately, high schools would plow donor-data into their health classes. Colleges would have to do the same, as would medical schools. And doctors and nurses seeking to renew licenses would be required to study the clinical aspects of organ donations.

"We are mandating a discussion, one that can and will save lives and make everyone a hero," said Codey, standing with the mother of a deceased donor, a living donor, recipients of organs and a mother whose husband died for lack of an available organ.

One Newark 16-year-old, Ant-wan Hunter, whose kidneys were failing, received a transplant from the body of University of North Carolina mascot Jason Ray, who died when he was run down by an sport-utility vehicle last March when the Tar Heels visited New Jersey for a basketball game.

"It's sad," said Antwan's mother, Latisha. "But others gained lives," she added, noting four others also benefited from Ray's organs.

Haddonfield resident Diane Bottino, who lost her husband, Joseph, while he waited for a transplant, said her 12-year-old daughter vividly grasped the dynamics -- "It's not right," the mother said her daughter replied when told there are not enough organs to benefit all of the ill.

Not all of the organs donated here would stay in New Jersey but would likely remain in the region, said Codey.

Howard Nathan, president of the Gift of Life Donor Program, said federal law bans any commercial trafficking of human organs, so no donated organs spin profits for handling agents in the middle.

"For the first time, a state is advocating that it is the fundamental responsibility of its residents to help save another person's life," Nathan said of Codey's proposed law, which the Senate president predicted would be supported by both parties.

As if to underline the global unanimity on the issue, Codey trotted out a rabbi, a Baptist minister, an Islamic imam and a representative of the Roman Catholic Church, and each said there are no objections from major faiths to the idea of donating organs.

Codey said there are about 4,240 New Jersey residents waiting for organ transplants.

Reach Tom Baldwin at tbaldwin@gannett.com
Published: December 21. 2007 3:10AM

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071221/NEWS01/712210380/1006