A bill recently signed by President Biden has been touted as improving the wait process for organ recipients, but concerns have been expressed on a local scale.
For several years, resident Brittany Munn has served as an advocate on a local, and national, scale to help organ recipients access the care they need.
It’s a cause close to her heart, after her son’s liver transplant eight years ago.
“My eyes have really been opened as to what the whole process is here in this country,” she said. “There are definitely things that need to be changed, things that need to be improved to save lives, 100%.”
Bill 2544 has received bipartisan support, with the Health Resources and Services Administration saying it’s a way to “strengthen accountability and transparency” within the organ procurement transplantation network.
But Munn is worried about how quickly the bill progressed through voting.
“My biggest concern with this bill getting pushed through so quickly, you know, it was approved in the middle of the night,” she said. “There's not a lot of transparency in it. And it to me, it's just very vague.”
Endorsed by Rep. Larry Buchson, R-Indiana, the legislation *removes stipulations for qualifying organizations to be nonprofits, reducing restrictions on who can operate as an organ procurement organization, according to the bill text.
When contacted, the HRSA submitted a written comment that “We cannot speculate on the future direction of our efforts around the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Modernization Initiative.” The organization referenced HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson’s July statement that “Individuals on the wait list, organ donors, and their families deserve an OPTN governed by an independent, representative board and supported by best-in-class technology, processes, policy, and people.”
It’s a step in the right direction, Munn said, but she is skeptical whether the HRSA's plan will prove effective in bringing those goals to fruition.
Munn believes the biggest focus has to be providing children with priority on the organ recipient list.
“There (are) a lot of kids that are dying on our wait list, because they don't have the right size organ (available),” she said. “And those child organs are going into adults. And, you know, you've got young lives that have barely begun getting snuffed out because of the lack of oversight on that in this country.”
The section denoted with an (*) has been updated for accuracy, as of Oct. 3, 2023.
