HD34 - Ways to Increase Participation in Organ Donor Programs

  • Published: 1985
  • Author: General Assembly. Joint Subcommittee
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 160 (Regular Session, 1984)

Executive Summary:
During the 1984 Session of the General Assembly, several bills focusing on concerns about organ donations and how they should be encouraged were introduced in the House of Delegates. The need for organ donations had become a national issue with the introduction in the House of Representatives of H.R. 4474 (which has since been passed and will establish the United Network for Organ Sharing) and the proposal put forward by a Virginian to broker the purchase, sale and distribution of organs for transplantation. As a result of the latter proposal, House Bill No. 231 was introduced and passed. This bill, which became § 32.1-289.1 of the Code of Virginia, prohibits the purchase and sale of body parts.

Although the adverse reaction to the proposal to solicit, buy and sell human organs from living individuals was strong, there still remained a concern among members of the Virginia General Assembly for the inadequacy of public participation in organ donor programs. Because of this concern, Delegate Mitchell Van Yahres introduced House Joint Resolution No. 160 proposing a joint legislative study of ways to increase participation in organ donor programs (see Appendix A).

House Joint Resolution No. 160 requested the appointment of a joint legislative subcommittee to examine:

1. The need for organ transplants in the Commonwealth; and

2. Ways that participation in organ donor programs can be improved.

The joint subcommittee was directed to consult with relevant groups and to complete its work in time to make its recommendations to the 1985 Session of the General Assembly.