MO passes new organ donation law
There are currently 2,000 people
in Missouri who are in need of an organ or tissue transplant.
On August 28,
2008, a new Missouri law passed that allows individuals to consent to become organ
or tissue donors prior to a medical incident.
Missouri is one
of the many states giving this power to the individual. Before, upon an individual’s
death, a family member would give consent whether or not to have organ and tissue
donated, which sometimes left the choice of the individual unexpressed.
Missourians now
have the option to register on a transplant list and have an organ donor symbol
printed on a driver’s license. With the donor’s full legal consent, Midwest Transplant
Network, the Organ Procurement Organization that Community Hospital-Fairfax works
with, is legally obligated to carry out the person’s wishes and will provide information
and support to family members who have questions about the process.
Midwest Transport
Network, which opened in October 1973, is a not-for-profit corporation that serves
all of Kansas and the western two-thirds of Missouri.
Upon admittance
to Community Hospital-Fairfax, patients are asked if they are registered on a transplant
list and are provided information to register if they aren’t already.
During 2007,
Community Hospital-Fairfax provided Midwest Transport Network with three tissue
donors and three cornea donors.
Other tissue
donations that donors can make at Community Hospital-Fairfax include heart valves,
vascular tissue, skin and eye tissue and bone and connective tissue.
http://www.dhss.mo.gov/OrganDonor/SignUp.html