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Two Sussex County legislators know firsthand the need to promote organ donation in Delaware. Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, donated a kidney to a friend in December, while Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach, is among 459 other people waiting to receive an organ in Delaware. Bunting, who was diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disorder, is waiting to receive a kidney.
Schwartzkopf and Bunting co-sponsored legislation Wednesday, Jan. 23, that would change the registration system for organ donation in Delaware.
Under the new system, drivers would be automatically enrolled in the system unless they ask not to be enrolled.
In 2004, across the nation, 3,886 kidney patients, 1,811 liver patients and 457 heart patients died while waiting for a transplant. “That’s astonishing,” said Schwartzkopf.
How it works
Under the legislation, when drivers or residents who have state-issued identification cards renew them at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, they would be enrolled in the organ donor program unless they opt out, said Schwartzkopf. Currently, the opposite system is in place: drivers must ask to be designated an organ donor.
Schwartzkopf said changing the process should result in an increase in organ donations. “This is strictly a volunteer program,” he said. While he is still tweaking the bill, he said he wants to make it easy for those who don’t want to donate organs to make their choice clear. Schwartzkopf said he wants to make it quite clear that those not wishing to participate can easily opt out. Donor databases would be held at organ procurement organizations, he said.
Schwartzkopf said it would take about five years for all Delaware drivers to renew under the proposed system. About 40 percent of the state’s 700,000 registered drivers are enrolled in the organ donor program today, but Schwartzkopf hopes to increase that number to as high as 90 percent with his proposal.
“Studies show that 90 percent agree with organ donation,” he said. “But not all those people who are willing donors have signed up to do so.”
He based the proposal on an initiative in Spain, he said, where a change in the system similar to what he proposes reduced waiting time for people who need organ transplants from five years to virtually no wait.
He said he and Bunting introduced House Bill 302 prior to a break in the legislative session to allow lawmakers time to forward suggestions and ask questions about the bill. “This is an evolving document and over the next six weeks it will be based on the suggestions we get,” he said.
“We want to make this as easy as possible,” he said.
For more information, email Schwartzkopf at peter.schwartzkopf@state.de.us
Contact Kevin Spence at k.spence@capegazette.com
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