A bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives has just introduced legislation that would really encourage organ donation. All Manhasset Press readers should be made aware of this.
On Feb. 14, Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced the Living Donor Protection Act of 2019 (H.R. 1224/S. 511) in their respective chambers of Congress. This legislation would promote living organ donation in three ways, as it: (1) prohibits life, disability and long term care insurance companies from denying or limiting coverage and from charging higher premiums for living organ donors; (2) clarifies that living organ donors may use Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) time to recover from the surgeries and procedures involved in their donation; and (3) directs HHS to update its materials on live organ donation to reflect these new protections and encourage more individuals to consider donating an organ. Enactment of living organ donation legislation has been a legislative priority of several medical associations [RPA, ASN, AST] for the last several Congresses.
Please write to your representative and Senator asking them to support this vigorously. All the members of the community groups should be asked to write letters of support.
—Lionel U. Mailloux, MD,FACP
Clinical Professor of Medicine [Emeritus] – Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
