World-Herald editorial: Invaluable organ donations

Nebraska lawmakers are looking at a way to smooth out the bumps in the state’s organ donor laws, bumps that make it more complicated for donors or grieving families to give organs for transplantation.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha, would help match state law to new thinking and modern transplant technology.

The bill also would clarify current law with the recognition that the wishes of a would-be donor would override the inclination of survivors. Conversely, someone who has specifically refused to donate also would have his choice respected.

Few of the provisions proposed by Legislative Bill 1036 sound unusual. For instance, it would expand the number of people allowed to make a donation decision. The law now limits this responsibility to spouses, parents, adult children and siblings and guardians. Others such as grandparents and adult grandchildren would be added.

The bill would require first responders — EMTs, for example — to look for a driver’s license or other organ donor card or document when they are called to take care of someone dead or near death. Nebraska authorities also would be able to accept other states’ donor registries as legal consent for donation.

Both of those provisions add to the chances that willing donors would have their intentions carried out. The window of time between death and donation is limited, and the sooner a donation is confirmed, the better.

LB 1036, which was approved in first-round debate, also has some minor provisions — allowing people to sign up as organ donors online and lowering the age for willing donation from 18 to 16. For 16- and 17-year-olds, though, parents could override their decision.

Organ donation proposals can be sensitive, in part because of the uncertainty that sometimes surrounds the approaching death. The Nebraska Catholic Conference expressed some initial worries, but amendments to LB 1036 helped alleviate its concerns, according to Jim Cunningham, a spokesman for the conference.

As transplantation technology has advanced and more people have the opportunity for extended life, organ donations haven’t kept up. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages donations nationally, reported last Thursday that the waiting list had 106,360 candidates for transplant on it.

In 2009, about 7,000 ill people died nationally awaiting an organ. Last year, 45 patients in Nebraska and 31 in Iowa died while on a waiting list for an organ, according to federal statistics.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is a major transplant center, one of the three busiest in the nation. It has completed more than 10,500 transplants and has quite a list of firsts, including the first lung transplant in 1996 and the first two successful small bowel/liver transplants in 1991.

Nebraskans can be proud of the medical achievements at UNMC. But it takes donors to enable transplant surgeons around the country to do their job. LB 1036 would make it easier to promote and complete organ donations, a worthwhile and life-saving goal.

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