NJ law would mandate organ donor decision
By TOM HESTER Jr. | Associated Press Writer
4:56 PM EST, December 20, 2007
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post Comment Text size: TRENTON, N.J. - Thousands mourned after Jason Ray, who dressed as the University of North Carolina mascot, died after being hit by an SUV during a March basketball team trip to New Jersey, but four lives were saved by the organs Ray donated.
Among them was Antwan Hunter, a 16-year-old from Newark whose only kidney was failing.
"It's sad that they had to lose a son," Antwan's mother, Latisha, said of Ray's parents. "But others gained lives."
The Hunters were among those Thursday backing legislation unveiled by a top legislator to require people applying for driver's licenses and identification cards to state whether they want to be an organ donor. It would also require high schools to teach about organ donation.
Senate President Richard J. Codey and Howard M. Nathan, president and CEO of the Gift of Life Donor Program, said New Jersey would be the first state to impose such requirements.
"We are mandating a discussion, one that can and will save lives and make everyone a hero," said Codey, D-Essex.
About 95,000 people in the United States await organ donations, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Nathan said Codey's legislation represents "an unprecedented position taken by a state that public policy supporting organ and tissue donation is no longer adequate."
"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.
Most states ask license and identification applicants if they want to be an organ donor, but they aren't required to answer.
Codey's bill would require applicants to answer whether they want to become an organ donor. If they decide to do so, their donor status would appear on their license and be maintained in a state registry.
If they are not ready to make a decision or uncomfortable sharing it, they would designate someone to make that decision on their behalf when the time comes.
If someone doesn't want to be a donor, they would check off a box acknowledging that.
"The point of this legislation is to move the discussion out of the emergency room and into the living room," Codey said.
The bill would provide $80,000 to the state Motor Vehicle Commission to implement the program within five years. Organ donation education would be incorporated into the state's high school curriculum beginning with the 2008-09 school year.
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, New Jersey has 4,244 residents awaiting organ transplantation, with 2,470 New Jerseyans having died while waiting for an organ donation in the past 10 years.
Among those was Joseph Bottino, who died at age 42 in February while waiting for a liver transplant after battling hepatitis C.
"I lost my husband Joseph because an organ was not available, and I don't want any family to have to go through that experience," said Diane Bottino, of Haddonfield.
Kay Pittman Govito said organs from her son helped save four people after he died in 2003 at age 31 after hitting his head on pavement after being punched.
"I know firsthand the difference that just one person alone can make by becoming an organ and tissue donor," said Pittman Govito. "If more people say yes, we can make a marked difference in New Jersey and more lives will be saved through organ and tissue donation."
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All I can say about this is
Almost makes me wish I lived in NJ!
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