- Target:
- To make organ donation an opt out instead of an opt in
- Region:
- United States of America
Hello,
My name is Nicole Le Floc’h, I am a daughter, wife, mother, and I have recently become a grandmother. I am a sixth grade science teacher at Crestwood Middle School in Royal Palm Beach, Florida. I go to yoga class once a week. I also get up at 3:45 AM on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings to be at the dialysis center by 5:15 AM. I am there for a three hour dialysis session three times a week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to work immediately after. On Saturdays I visit my mom then go to yoga class.
I am on the transplant list at Cleveland Clinic, Tampa, and Miami. Like Thousands of other people who need a transplant, there I wait. Having a blood type that is O+ makes the wait longer.
Like so many others recently I am advertising for a donor. However, I would also like to see a change in the policy in the United States when it comes to being an organ donor.
I have written to several senators with no reply. I would like to urge the introduction of a bill on the topic of the "opt out” organ donation policy for the United States. In several European countries they have made organ donation the default option at the time of death. People can opt out of organ donation, but research has shown that most do not. In countries that have the opt out policy more that 90% of people donate their organs, while in the US fewer that 55% are organ donors. I am one of the 93,000 people on the kidney transplant list. Meanwhile, twenty US citizens die each day waiting for a lung transplant. On the liver transplant list, 17,000 are waiting. Children under the age of five have the highest death rate on the transplant waiting list compared to any other age range. The opt out organ donation would change that.
Again, I urge you to introduce what would be a popular bill that would save millions of lives.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Introduce a bill in the USA to make organ donation an opt out. If it becomes a law millions of lives could be saved rather than having to die on transplant waiting lists.
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