|
Related sites |
Dispute breaks out over organ donation rules
Posted
11-22-99 Washington. Congress and the Clinton administration are embroiled in a bitter dispute over approval of new rules overhauling the nation's organ transplant system, despite a high-level agreement last week allowing the rules to take effect. The rules proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would break down the geographic system now used to distribute scarce organs for transplant. Organs would be offered to the sickest patients first, even if they live outside local and regional lines that now govern the system. A House committee chair and at least one senator are trying to block the rules from taking effect. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has vowed to pool support for his Senate measure aimed at stopping the rules' implementation. Meanwhile, House Commerce Committee Chair Tom Bliley Jr., R-Va., wants to put the rules on hold while Congress considers a bill that would essentially nullify the proposed regulations. "We believe strongly that patients should not have to deteriorate to the brink of death before being eligible for transplant," said Steve Schmidt, spokesperson for Bliley. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit agency that runs the nation's transplant network under contract to the government, has bitterly opposed the changes since they were proposed by the HHS two years ago. UNOS is "moving forward" with implementing the rules, despite its opposition to them, said spokesperson Bob Speildenner. But Speildenner said UNOS supports congressional efforts to overturn the rules because they give HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala final say in approving transplant policy. "We feel Congress intended that the medical community would make decisions about transplant policy," Speildenner said. Congress has twice used spending bills to delay the regulations from taking effect. Last week, negotiators for Congress and the Clinton administration agreed to one more short delay, which cleared the way for the rules to take effect near the end of the year.
|