Statement From the New York Organ Donor Network About Dr. Michael Harris’s Liver Transplant and Public Solicitation

August 5, 2005—The New York Organ Donor Network is pleased to learn from a press report that Dr. Michael Harris, the director of Tomorrow’s Children’s Institute for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Hackensack, N.J., received a life-saving liver transplant on Wednesday in New York City.

We wish to emphasize that, despite a highly publicized campaign to find a donor for Dr. Harris, a directed donation was not what led to this life saving transplant. On the contrary, Dr. Harris received the liver through the prescribed national system for allocating organs that is maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), of which the New York Organ Donor Network is a member. This system is founded on the principles of equity and medical benefit, including the patient’s blood type and degree of medical urgency.

The UNOS position on public solicitation states that, while naming a specific person to receive a donated organ is permitted, “Attempts to develop such a personal bond through unsolicited contact with or public appeals to families of deceased donors are problematic.”

We applaud and appreciate all efforts to publicize the importance of organ donation and the critical lack of available organs for all patients on the list. As is evidenced in the case of Dr. Harris, when the UNOS system is allowed to work, the most critical patients are transplanted as soon as appropriate organs are found. The greatest barrier to organ and tissue donation is that families do not consent to donation, often because they do not know the wishes of their loved ones. The New York Organ Donor Network continues to urge the public to talk to their families about their wishes and to sign as organ and tissue donors, so that the number of people who need transplants can be significantly reduced. New Yorkers can enroll in the state’s donor registry by logging onto www.donatelifeny.org .