Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleagues, Senators LEVIN, DORGAN, and BOND, to introduce the Living Kidney Organ Donation Clarification Act.

This important legislation would clarify Section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). Section 301 makes it a felony ``for any person to knowingly acquire, receive or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in organ transplantation.'' This provision simply makes it illegal to buy and sell human organs. The bill that Senator Levin and I are introducing would clarify that paired donations do not violate Section 301.

When NOTA was first enacted, the only living organ donations took place between a single biologically compatible living donor and recipient. In the past decade, a new type of living donation procedure has developed. It's called the paired organ donation. The best way to describe a paired donation is through an example: Patient A is on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. Various family and friends have offered to donate a kidney to Patient A, but none of the potential donors are compatible. However, one of Patient A's potential donors is compatible with Patient B, who is also on the waiting list for a kidney. Patient B has a potential donor who is compatible with Patient A. Patient A and B could exchange donors and both get transplants.

With the development of paired donations, concerns have arisen that the mutual promises to donate organs could be considered ``valuable consideration'' under Section 301 of NOTA. It is important to note that while paired donations were not conceived at the time NOTA was written over 20 years ago, they are in keeping with all of NOTA's provisions and protections and should be permitted. Paired donors may not receive a monetary payment, except for reimbursement for expenses. I don't think that Congress would have intended to prohibit the practice of paired donations with the enactment of NOTA.

The benefits of paired donations are tremendous. Successful kidney transplants eliminate the need for dialysis for the recipient, as well as decrease costs to Medicare. And, the practice of paired donations has the potential to increase the number of living donor transplants dramatically, as there are a large number of potential living donors who are biologically incompatible with their intended recipients.

My own State of Ohio has the first state-sponsored program that arranges paired kidney donations. There have been at least four paired kidney donations in Ohio during the last two years arranged through the Paired Donation Kidney Consortium. With over 62,000 men, women, and children waiting for a kidney donation, we cannot afford to turn our back on the paired donation procedure.

That is why it is critically important that Section 301 of NOTA be clarified to permit these donations. Clarification of the intent of Congress would encourage transplant centers throughout the country to implement their own paired donation programs. It also would enable the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network to create a national list of pairs of incompatible donors so that as many recipients can be matched up as possible.

I encourage my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this bill.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators LEVIN, DEWINE and BOND to introduce the Kidney Transplant Clarification Act of 2006. This legislation will help save lives by increasing the number of kidney donations made by living donors.

There are currently 90,608 people in the United States who are on the national organ transplant waiting list. More than two-thirds of those on the waiting list suffer from end stage renal disease and are in need of a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, the number of people on the waiting list continues to grow far faster than the number of organ donors. In North Dakota alone, there are currently 91 patients who are waiting for a kidney transplant.

The good news is that patients with end stage renal disease who require a kidney transplant no longer need to wait for a kidney from a deceased donor or from a blood relative. Advances in medical science now make it possible for friends and spouses to donate a kidney to a patient in need. Of the 16,004 kidney transplants in 2004, 6,647 were from living donors.

The bad news is outdated Federal laws inappropriately stand in the way of widely adopting several innovative approaches that would increase the number of kidney donations from the living.

One of these strategies is called a paired kidney donation. Here is how it works: Joe wants to donate a kidney to his wife Kathleen but can't because of incompatibility. Likewise, Suzy wants to donate a kidney to her husband Scott but can't because of incompatibility. A paired donation helps match up these couples so Joe can donate a kidney to Scott and Suzy can donate a kidney to Kathleen.

The other approach is called a kidney list donation. Here is how it works: Rebecca wants to donate a kidney to her husband Grant but can't because of incompatibility. In this case, she decides to donate a kidney to someone who is already on the national waiting list. Once the donation is made, Grant is added to the waiting list but is given allocation priority for a kidney that becomes available in the future.

The Kidney Transplant Clarification Act will clarify that paired and list kidney donations are allowed under the National Organ Transplant Act, removing a barrier that has prevented more kidney donations from living donors from occurring.

The National Organ Transplant Act, which was enacted in 1984, prohibits any person to acquire, receive or donate any human organ for anything of value. The purpose of this law is to prohibit the buying and selling of human organs. I agree with this law. The last thing that we want to do is sanction organ trafficking. Yet, when this law was enacted, paired and list kidney donations did not exist. It is important that we clarify that these innovative strategies to increase the number of kidney donations from living donors are allowed under current law.

The Kidney Transplant Clarification Act will not only save lives, it will save the federal government and taxpayers money. Patients with end stage renal disease require dialysis, which is covered by Medicare. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare spends about $55,000 per patient per year for dialysis. On average, patients with end stage renal disease wait 4 years before receiving a kidney transplant. This means that every kidney donation made from a living donor has the potential to reduce the number of people on the waiting list and save the government as much as $220,000.

Mr. President, I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

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