Transplants between HIV patients OKd
The law becomes effective immediately, which proponents say can prolong lives.
SACRAMENTO — With a seriously ill patient waiting for a new liver, the Legislature took the extraordinary action Friday of having both houses — within an hour — approve a bill that would allow HIV-positive people to donate organs to others who are HIV-positive.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill, which becomes effective immediately. "This is a life-saving matter that aligns California with federal law," said Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for Brown.
The Assembly and the Senate acted on the measure after San Francisco surgeon Peter G. Stock told lawmakers he has two HIV-positive patients needing liver transplants, including one who has identified a donor. However, state law makes it illegal for HIV-positive people to donate organs.
“I am deeply concerned for these patients because their health is failing, and I am concerned that, by the time the Legislature is able to act in the ordinary course,
the patients will be unable to receive a transplant due to deterioration or unavailability of a donor,” wrote Stock, professor of surgery at UC San Francisco Medical Center.
Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) introduced SB 1408, which he said could prolong the lives of seriously ill patients. “Right now there is a felony associated with that donation,” Allen told his colleagues on the Senate floor. “We can save a life this month.”
He said 22 Americans die every day waiting for an organ transplant.
With a life on the line, the case drew the involvement of state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris, who supported the change in the law. Harris wrote to lawmakers that they should “quickly remove these outdated criminal penalties and permit Dr. Stock and others to perform these groundbreaking and lifesaving surgeries.”
Word of the governor's action thrilled Stock.
“I’m stoked,” he said. “It’s going to mean something for 60 patients on the waiting list who have HIV but it also means something for the 4,000 other people on the waiting list who don’t have HIV because for every donor we add, somebody benefits.”
The patient whose husband has agreed to donate part of his liver will undergo surgery in a matter of weeks, “as soon as possible,” Stock said.
The surgery will take half of the liver of the husband with the understanding that livers can regenerate back to full size in weeks, he said.