To the Editor:
Re: “Donor Organs Are Too Rare. We Need a New Definition of Death” (Opinion, July 30)

Redefining death is a critical step in addressing the nation’s transplant
crisis, but it alone won’t solve the country’s kidney shortage. To do that, we must adopt policies to ethically and sustainably increase living kidney donations. Regulators are right to crack down on organ procurement organizations with a record of failure, but we can’t reform our way to enough deceased donor organs.

As a physician and the chair of the Kidney Transplant Collaborative, I’ve seen firsthand that living donors offer the best outcomes: longer lasting kidneys, scheduled surgeries and faster transplants. Contrary to public opinion, we can accomplish this without paying people to donate. Surveys show that most Americans would donate to a friend or loved one — but patients often don’t know how to find willing donors.

Making matters even more challenging, only 7 of 100 who step up to donate complete the transplant process. The system makes it too hard. It’s filled with red tape and delays.

We need a national living donor facilitator program that builds on the Medicare program to help patients find a donor and support both through the process. Trials at Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama at Birmingham show that it works. With modest reforms, we could double kidney transplants, save billions of dollars and finally address the kidney disease crisis.

We have the tools. Now we need the will.

Andy Howard
Walnut Creek, Calif

Read the full article here.