A Simple Solution To

The Organ Shortage

To the Editor:

Regarding your story “Life-Saving Liver Transplant” (January 19, 2006), David Anderson was very lucky to get a liver transplant. More than half of the people who need an organ transplant in the United States will die before they get one. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans donate only about half of the organs that could save lives and relieve suffering. They bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year. Over 6,000 of their neighbors die every year as a result.

There is a simple solution to the organ shortage — give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.

Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 60 percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who have not agreed to donate their own organs when they die. People who aren’t prepared to share the gift of life shouldn’t be eligible for transplants as long as there is a shortage of organs.

Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a nonprofit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. They do this through a form of directed donation that is legal in all 50 states and under federal law. Anyone can join for free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 888-ORGAN88. LifeSharers has 3,761 members, including 34 members in Connecticut. Over 300 of our members are minor children enrolled by their parents.

David J. Undis

Executive Director

LifeSharers

6509 Cornwall Drive, Nashville, TN 37205           January 23, 2006