Report Title:

Health; Organ Transplantation

 

Description:

Awards a grant to the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii to increase education and public awareness of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1766

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO ORGAN TRANSPLANTS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     The legislature finds that there is a critical shortage of organ and tissue donors in the State to provide for all of the patients in Hawaii awaiting transplantation.  Currently there are over ninety-four thousand patients on the national organ transplant waiting list.  Every thirteen minutes, a new name is added to the waiting list, and every day, an average of seventeen patients die while waiting for a transplant.  In Hawaii alone, there are almost four hundred patients awaiting a heart, lung, liver, or kidney transplant, and for each of the past five years, an average of nineteen patients have died waiting for their second chance at life.

     In Hawaii and across the country, the number of people requiring a life-saving organ transplant continues to rise faster than the number of available organs.  This problem is especially acute among minority ethnic groups.  Data suggest that minority populations appear to be at a higher risk for life-threatening conditions that can lead to organ failure and require a transplant.  Some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas, and liver are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population.  For example, African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics are three times more likely to suffer from end-stage renal disease than Caucasians.  While some of these diseases are best treated through transplantation, there are others that can only be treated through transplantation.

     Successful transplantation often is enhanced by the matching of organs between members of the same ethnic and racial group.  For example, any patient is less likely to reject a kidney if it is donated by an individual who is genetically similar.  Generally, people are genetically more similar to people of their own ethnicity or race than to people of other races.  Therefore, a shortage of organs donated by minorities can contribute to death and longer waiting periods for transplants for minorities.  For these reasons, the legislature finds that more education and discussion among families is necessary to encourage organ and tissue donation among minority groups in Hawaii.

     The legislature also finds that the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii, the non-profit federally-designated organ procurement organization for Hawaii, performs or coordinates the performance of retrieving, preserving, and locating prospective recipients for available organs.  This includes evaluating potential donors, presenting the option of donation to families, providing medical management to donors, and placing organs according to nationally established criteria.  The legislature further finds that the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii meets the requirements of a grant recipient under section 42F-103, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and that a grant to the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii to conduct public education programs and activities is in the public interest and for the public health, safety, and general welfare.

     The purpose of this Act is to award a grant to the Hawaii Organ Donor Center to expand organ and tissue donation education efforts across all ethnic, religious, and age groups, to increase the number of individuals consenting to donate organs and tissue, to increase the supply of organs available for transplant candidates, and to create the minority organ tissue transplant education program to administer public education programs on organ and tissue donation and transplantation among minority communities.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the state of Hawaii the sum of $175,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, as a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii to expand organ and tissue donation education efforts throughout the State, to increase the number of individuals that consent to donate organs and tissue, to increase the supply of available organs for transplant, and to create the minority organ tissue transplant education program to administer public education programs on organ and tissue donation and transplantation among minority communities.

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purpose of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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