CA Looks to Increase Organ Donation Opportunities
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCBS) _ California is blazing a trail, looking to become the first in the nation to save lives in a very specific way.
16,500 people in California are in renal failure, with their time running out and in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
Some will get that kidney when a stranger with the right tissue match dies under very specific circumstances.
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Typically, in order to donate, a person needs to be on a ventilator with no chance of survival after suffering a traumatic head injury and that describes only 1 percent of all deaths.
"The opportunity for organ donation is so incredibly rare," said Bryan Stewart, President of Donate Life California. "In the greater Los Angeles area, with a population of 19 million people, last year, there were only 541 potential eligible organ donors."
But Stewart said he is grateful Governor Schwarzenegger has pledged to sign Senate Bill 1395 as soon as it passes both houses in Sacramento.
"SB 1395 recognizes that we can't solve the shortage of organs for transplant without living donation becoming more prominent," said Stewart. "SB 1395 will establish a living donor registry that will harness the latent interest of individuals who would like to donate a kidney."
108,000 people in this country are in need of an organ donation, with 20 percent of them in California.
For more information: Donate Life California
