Critical Organ Shortage Highlights State Senate Testimony

As 5-year-old liver recipient Peter Griffith listened quietly with his parents, LifeGift Organ Donation Center President and Chief Executive Officer Sam Holtzman outlined recommendations for addressing the critical shortage of organs available for transplant during testimony at a recent hearing of the state Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, chaired by Sen. Mike Moncrief of Fort Worth.

"Each time we recover another donor, we save another life. We should focus our resources on how to increase the number of organ and tissue donors. It’s just that simple," said Holtzman, leader of Texas’ largest organization (by number of counties) for handling recovery and placement of organs.

In addition to Holtzman, LifeGift Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Teresa Shafer, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Charles Van Buren, board of directors member Dr. Lawrence Schkade, and several volunteers testified last month. Although some discussion by industry leaders focused on organ allocation issues, all agreed that donation should be the main emphasis.

"We have an absolute consensus in the transplant community that organ donation is a priority," stated Jim Cutler, chief executive officer of Dallas-based Southwest Transplant Alliance.

During his testimony, Holtzman outlined several recommendations for increasing donation, stating "we need to zero in on what’s going to get the job done." Holtzman also outlined these proposals in a letter sent recently to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The proposals include focusing organ recovery resources at trauma centers, making an on-site and dedicated recovery team a requirement for Level-I trauma center designation, concentrating resources in major metropolitan areas, and actively collaborating with physicians and other health care professionals to support donation.

Additionally, Holtzman’s testimony included addressing the issue of "presumed consent," whereby consent to recover organs and tissue from a donor is presumed and an individual must opt out of giving.

"LifeGift supported presumed consent, understanding it would face large political challenges," Holtzman said. "I think we need to think out of the box and create an environment that’s positive to donation by considering this option."

The U.S. consent rate sits at 55 percent and more than 5,000 people will die this year awaiting a transplant. In LifeGift’s 109-county service area, nearly 2,000 people await an organ transplant. That figure reaches 5,000 individuals in Texas and close to 80,000 nationally.

Although organ supply is a continuing challenge, Holtzman emphasized LifeGift’s strong performance in organ recovery, particularly in the North Texas area. During its last fiscal year, the organ procurement organization, or OPO, recovered 635 organs and more than 1,500 donations of tissue (bone, skin, heart valves, and saphenous veins). And LifeGift’s consent rate is 62 percent.

"LifeGift is exceedingly proud of its effectiveness at procuring and placing organs and tissue – particularly in the North Texas area – and each year ranks among the top OPOs in the country," said Holtzman.

Fort Worth kidney recipient Ray Calva related his story of survival, mentioning LifeGift’s commitment to sharing the organs it recovers. More than one-third of the organs LifeGift recovers are shared outside of the LifeGift service area.

From 1991 to 1999, LifeGift shared 383 organs with transplant centers principally served by Dallas-based Southwest Transplant Alliance. Of those, 304 were shared specifically in the Dallas area. In addition, between 1998 and 2001, 25 percent of all organs recovered by LifeGift were shared outside of the LifeGift service area.

Some of the most poignant moments of the day came from testimony by recipients and their families, including Peter and Anne Griffith, parents of Lubbock organ recipient Peter Griffith Jr., who received a liver in 1996.

Peter Griffith Sr. applauded Sen. Moncrief’s successful effort at passing legislation to prevent losing organ donors due to medical examiner investigations. Peter Jr. received one of the first organs recovered as a result of the legislation.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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