"Because of our system of presumed non-consent to organ donation, there
is a large shortage of organs for transplantation in the United States. To me,
there is an inherent fairness in having organs made available first to
individuals who have indicated their willingness to donate their own organs." Gerry W. Beyer
Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law,
Texas Tech University School
of Law
"The organ shortage persists because the federal government's organ allocation system shows too
little respect for the rights of organ donors. LifeSharers is fixing that,
by acknowledging individual ownership of organs and by helping organ donors
exercise their legal right to decide who gets their organs when they die." Twila Brase, R.N.
President, Citizens'
Council on Health Care
"It is a fundamental issue of fairness that people who agree to donate
organs should get priority if they need one. It is an irony that
most organs go to people who haven't signed up as donors. Thousands of
people are dying needlessly every year -- not because life-saving organs don't
exist, but because we don't incent people properly to make them available in the
first place. LifeSharers is helping to fix that."
Steve P. Calandrillo
Professor,
University of Washington Law School
"By giving people an incentive to become organ donors, LifeSharers offers
hope to those otherwise doomed by our government to die while waiting for a
life-saving organ transplant operation." Lloyd R.
Cohen
Professor,
George Mason University School of Law
"LifeSharers is an ingenious effort to harness the collective efforts of many
individuals to increase the supply of usable organs. It gives preferences
in case of need to those who are willing to make their organs available to
others." Richard A. Epstein
James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law,
University of Chicago Law School
Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow,
Hoover Institution
"LifeSharers exemplifies social cooperation at its best. It shows that
human ingenuity can overcome government-imposed scarcity by finding creative
ways for people to help themselves by helping others."
Sigrid Fry-Revere, J.D., Ph.D.
Medical Ethicist, Health Care and FDA Policy Analyst
Former Cato Institute director of bioethics studies
"The country needs to know that patients on organ waiting lists die
needlessly every day, and that we have it in our power to change that. But
someone has to push the envelope if we are ever going to overthrow the
long-prevailing notion that altruism is the only ethical motive underlying organ
donation. LifeSharers and its associated scholars and experts is working to
achieve that goal."
Merrill Matthews, Ph.D.
Director, Council for
Affordable Health Insurance
Resident Scholar, Institute for
Policy Innovation
"A free and civil society encourages compassion through incentives and the
natural goodwill of caring, future-focused individuals. Getting involved with
LifeSharers accomplishes many things: it helps solve a pressing need, it saves
lives, it advances a great idea, and it does all that in a fashion that is in
perfect harmony with the principles of liberty and responsibility. What more
could anybody want?!" Lawrence W. Reed
President Mackinac Center for Public Policy
"Those who are willing to give should be the first to receive. LifeSharers makes this idea a reality. If enough people join LifeSharers,
we could even have a surplus of organs." Alexander
Tabarrok
Associate Professor, Department of Economics,
George Mason University
Research Director,
The Independent Institute
MEMBERS
"LifeSharers is a wonderful idea, a way to increase the supply of organs by
providing a personal incentive to those who might consider donating. Whatever
the reasons preventing people from becoming donors currently, LifeSharers can
make people feel more comfortable with following their desire to help others." Benjamin Abelow, M.D.
Medical textbook author
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
"LifeSharers is an inherently fair way for people who don't have much money,
and even those who do, to have an even chance at receiving an organ when they
need one." Fr. Phillip L. Adams
Lighthouse Christian Ministries
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
"LifeSharers gives you a leg up on the list to get a donated organ. All
you have to do is promise to donate your organs when you die. Seems like a
good idea to me." Amy Alkon The Advice Goddess
Syndicated Columnist
Santa Monica, California
"LifeSharers is an ethical solution to the problem of deciding between potential
recipients of the inadequate number of donor organs." Nancy J.V. Bohannon, M.D.
San Francisco, California
"Signing up for organ donation is a social contract. In the case of
organ scarcity it is appropriate to favor fellow organ donors over free riders.
When it is time to allocate a scarce resource, it is fair to assign priority to
people who are willing to both give and receive."
Katrina A. Bramstedt, Ph.D.
Clinical Ethicist, California
Pacific Medical Center
San Francisco, California
"America has an organ donor crisis. Altruism, while laudable, is failing
miserably to meet the demand for organs. LifeSharers is an entirely fair and
appropriate way to help reverse the organ donor crisis. The FAIR Foundation also
supports two additional new organ donation policies,
Presumed Consent and Donation Benefits, to insure more dying
patients receive the 'Gift of Life'."
Dr. Richard Darling, DDS
President and CEO,
FAIR
Foundation
Palm Desert, California
"Donating organs is one of the most responsible things a person can do. It
ensures life will never be wasted." Anne L. Galante, M.D.
Obstetrician/Gynecologist
Middlebury, Vermont
"I was already a registered organ donor when I joined LifeSharers. I
joined to help create an incentive for others to become donors." G. Neil Green, PhD
Associate Professor,
Microbiology and Immunology Department,
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee
"LifeSharers provides an incentive to organ sharing that is remarkably
reasonable and fair. I'll be encouraging others to join!" Byron Harvey Pastor, Red Oak, an
Evangelical Free Church
Marietta, Georgia
"We joined LifeSharers in 2002. We are not on the organ waiting list, but
felt compelled to join once we learned about the disturbing disparity between
organ recipients who are themselves organ donors vs. those who are not. It's
just crazy!" Mike and Amanda Haynes http://www.isatisfy.com
Miami Beach, Florida
"LifeSharers helps mitigate the government-created organ-shortage nightmare.
Who could be opposed to that?" J. H. Huebert
Attorney
Adjunct Faculty Member, Ludwig
von Mises Institute
Columbus, Ohio
"Those who pay into the system should be the ones to get paid back if
something happens." Cheryl S. Johnson
Science Teacher
McMurray Middle School
Nashville, Tennessee
"I was already an organ donor when I heard
about LifeSharers. After reading about it, I thought it was a fantastic idea. I hope it will inspire more people to become organ donors. No one wants to
think about it, but it's a fact of life -- people need organs every day. Joining
LifeSharers saves lives -- possibly a loved one's or even your own." Dene Marie Jomei Musician http://www.denemarie.com Los Angeles, California
"LifeSharers is dedicated to taking inevitable tragedy and turning it into
hope. LifeSharers offers a unique and powerful win-win situation in which all
people have nothing to lose and everything to gain." Erin Jurrens
Student Saint Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri
"Because there is no market incentive, a lot of people don't bother to fill
out an organ donor card or make their wishes known to their families. Their valuable organs, which might have saved lives, go into the
ground with them. LifeSharers is out to change that. As a
LifeSharers member, If you someday need a transplant your previous commitment to
donate your organs will move you up the waiting list past those who have made no
such commitment." Thomas L. Knapp
Publisher Rational Review
St. Louis, Missouri
"LifeSharers is a brilliant idea. It promotes human life and human
freedom. It's like buying into an organ transplant
assurance program, and you pay with your pledge to donate." Harold Kyriazi, Ph.D.
Department of Neurobiology University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Creator of
www.organselling.com and
www.organgiving.org
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Many people give up the fight for survival, when the fight can be won, with dignity,
under a caring and cooperative venture like LifeSharers, a community of selfless
people whose pledge to give earns them the privilege of receiving. Everyone
should join!" Atilano Lacson, M.D.
Affiliate Professor, Pediatrics and Pathology University of South Florida at
All Children's Hospital
St. Petersburg, Florida
"It is unethical for people to expect to receive organs if unwilling to
donate." David A. Lang, M.D.
Family Physician,
Apple Valley Medical Clinic, Ltd.
Apple Valley, Minnesota
"LifeSharers is a private, voluntary, fair solution to a resource problem
that I'd like to see applied to more government-created snafus."
Sunni Maravillosa, Ph.D.
Mother, writer, psychologist SunniMaravillosa.com
Evanston, Wyoming
"LifeSharers' practical and simple principles should be applied to all organ
transplantation to be fair and drastically reduce the heartache for families
waiting for organs that may never come." Jacqueline Marcell, B.S.
Author, Elder Rage
Host,
Coping With Caregiving Radio
Writer, Elder Care
Blog
Irvine, California
"I don't want my family to have to face a heartbreaking decision about
donating my organs when I die. By joining LifeSharers, I took this burden off
their shoulders." Brigid McGinley
Mother and Attorney
Hurley, New York
"LifeSharers will reduce the number of people who die while waiting for
an organ by creating an incentive for more people to become organ donors. It is
also more equitable because those who choose to become an organ donor through
LifeSharers get first dibs on the organs of LifeSharers members."
Robert H. Moody II
Certified Financial Planner Compass Advisors LLC
Atlanta, Georgia
"A person who helps others should be able to get help when it is needed, over
someone who wants help but never offers it. It has been said that God
helps those who help themselves. LifeSharers is a means by which we help
ourselves and each other." Larry E. Nazimek
V. P. for Public Relations LifeLine Pilots
Peoria, Illinois
"With such a severe organ shortage, it seems only fair that those who want
the privilege of access meet the responsibility of donation. LifeSharers is
helping make that happen"
Sally Satel, M.D. Author, "One Nation Under
Therapy" and "PC, M.D."
Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Staff Psychiatrist, Oasis Drug Treatment Clinic
Lecturer, Yale University School of Medicine
Washington, D.C.
"I've been a registered organ donor for years. Now, with LifeSharers, I can
help ensure that my organs are distributed in a fair manner to others who are
willing to make the same commitment. It's a great idea and every free market
advocate should join."
Mary Lou Seymour
Editor, Rational Review
South Carolina
"LifeSharers membership is a compelling investment in your future. It's free,
and it could literally save your life. By joining LifeSharers you reduce the
chance you'll die waiting if you ever need an organ transplant." Bill Staton, MBA, CFA
Chairman, Staton Financial
Advisors LLC
Charlotte, North Carolina
"There ought to be a free market in organs, but since that's illegal,
LifeSharers may be the next best thing. It's criminal that dozens die every day
waiting for organs." John Stossel Author and Reporter
New York, New York
"If enough people join LifeSharers, there will be a lot fewer people dying
waiting for transplants. I know because I saw this happen to dialysis patients
while my husband was waiting for me to donate a kidney to him. While a living
donor can save one person, a deceased donor can save several people. It doesn't
cost anything to join LifeSharers, so why would anyone not want to participate?" Janice Uible
Cincinnati, Ohio
"We read about LifeSharers in our local newspaper and were immediately drawn to
the organization because of its mission. We joined not so much for our own needs, but because
we know we are giving priority in utilizing our donated organs to others who are
willing to give. What a wonderful way to encourage ALL PEOPLE to donate, which is the ultimate goal here!" John Wisniewski, MD Board Certified Internal Medicine Kimberly Wisniewski Board Certified Nurse Practitioner
Indian Lake, Pennsylvania
VOLUNTEERS
Public Relations
"Having donated a kidney to my son, I was very aware of the tremendous need
for organ donations. When I read about LifeSharers, I knew it was an
organization that could make a real difference. People live or die every day
based on whether their neighbors are willing to be organ donors. If you are
willing to step up to the plate and be a donor, then you should have first
access to organs if the need should ever arise in your life. To me, it's a basic
issue of fairness." John Landsberg
President Bottom Line
Communications
Kansas City, Missouri
Web and Database Programming
"When you join LifeSharers you make a difference now and in the future." Jose Presa
Senior
Vice President, Global Data Management Marsh USA Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee
