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Show Medical school backs transplant legislation A bill sponsored by the College of Medicine will be submitted to the state legislature to make it possible for persons over 18 years of age and of sound mind to bequeath body organs and tissues for transplants and other medical purposes without permission from next of kin. The proposed law will "make it easier to obtain organs for transplants, but the truth about transplanting will come only after the public is educated. Hopefully this will educate the public," said Dr. Wilhelm Kolff, director of the division of artificial organs at the University Medical Center. Requires Permission The law now requires permission from next of kin. If the proposal is enacted, the donors decision would supercede any conflicting desires by next of kin. The next of kin could make the provision for a donation if an individual had not done so during his lifetime, explained Dr. Kolff. "A donation could be made by will, at the present but it is said to be impractical since wills are not usually read until it is too late to use body parts," he said. "A carried card expressing the will of the prospective donor would be a better method." The bill to be presented is adapted from the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws with the aid of experts in law and medicine. Consultants to the conference in drafting the uniform act were Dr. Alfred M. Sadler Jr., a doctor of medicine and his lawyer brother, Blair L. Sadler who conducted a study of the medical-legal implications of using human tissue through the National Institute of Health. Both men hope that all states will adopt the bill in which they say that all possible conflict is eliminated. The Uniform Act has been endorsed by the American Bar Association, the Eye Bank Association of America, the American College of Cardiology and the Committee on Tissue Transplantation of the National Research Council. It has already been adopted by Kansas, Maryland, Louisiana and California, and the Sadlers believe prospects for adoption by most other states are "excellent." |