Employers urged to give organ donors paid leave

Employers urged to give organ donors paid leave

By: JO CIAVAGLIA
Bucks County Courier Times

At least 40 U.S. employers - mostly colleges or health- related businesses - have implemented paid leave policies for organ donors.

Kim Myers didn't just donate a kidney to her doctor. She gave her vacation time to make it possible.

Her gift of life cost the Bensalem woman at least two weeks of time off from work for the surgery, the recovery and the required pre-surgery medical testing.

Her experience isn't unusual, according to the American Society of Transplantation, which last year launched an outreach campaign that provides assistance and education to help employers establish a paid leave policy for living donors.

An organ or tissue donor's transplant-related medical expenses are covered by the recipient's health insurance, but most living organ donors must schedule transplant surgery during vacation time or take unpaid family leave.

Paid leave could help ease the chronic shortage of living organ and tissue donations, said Susan Nelson, the society's executive director.

More than 103,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for organ transplants. Another 1 million have medical conditions that could benefit from tissue transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Living donors accounted for 6,217 of the 14,200 organ donors in 2008, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Living donors are responsible for about half of kidney transplants, 10 percent of liver transplants and 2 percent of lung transplants, according to the society.
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The recovery period for organ and tissue donors varies, but it is generally one week for bone marrow, up to four weeks for kidney donors and up to 90 days for liver and lung donors, Nelson said. But donors also must take time off from work for related medical and psychological testing and evaluations.

So far, at least 40 employers - mostly colleges or health-care related businesses - have implemented paid leave policies, Nelson said.

Then-President Clinton signed a federal law on living donations in l999, increasing the amount of time available to a federal employee in connection with donating an organ. As of October 2006, 29 states had enacted laws providing paid or unpaid leave for bone marrow and organ donors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Eight states allow a leave of absence for private sector employees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey don't have such leave laws. The leave period is usually 30 days for organ donors and 7 days for bone marrow donors. Some state laws also have provisions that require authorization for requested leave or prohibit states from penalizing employees from taking such leave.

In Pennsylvania, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which is headquartered in Collegeville, is one of the biggest private employers with a living donor leave policy, Nelson said. It's unclear if company-paid leave benefits have resulted in more living organ donations since medical privacy laws hamper the society from collecting data, Nelson said.

September 06, 2009 02:20 AM