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Friday, November 22, 2002 Press Release SOURCE: LifeSharers Organ Donors Can Now Enjoy Preferred Access to Organs When They Need ThemLifeSharers Members Now Get “First Dibs” on the Organs of Fellow Members NASHVILLE, Tenn. – November 22, 2002 – Members of the LifeSharers organ donors network today begin becoming eligible for preferred access to the organs and tissue of other members. LifeSharers is a non-profit network formed to help reduce the shortage of human organs for transplant operations. Preferred access is available to members 180 days after joining the network, and today LifeSharers has been in operation for 6 months. Richard A. Epstein, Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, says “LifeSharers is an ingenious effort to harness the collective efforts of many individuals to increase the supply of usable organs. It gives preference in case of need to those who are willing to make their organs available to others.” LifeSharers members agree to donate their organs and tissue when they die. Uniquely, they direct their donations first to their fellow members. Non-members can have a member’s organs if no member who is a suitable match for them wants them. By giving fellow members “first dibs” on their organs, LifeSharers members create an incentive for non-members to become donors and join the network. This incentive, which will become more powerful as membership in LifeSharers expands, is the key to reducing the organ shortage and saving lives. Only about 20% Americans have signed organ donor cards. Without preferred access, 80% of donated organs go to people who haven’t agreed to donate their own. LifeSharers helps correct this inequity. Alexander Tabarrok, Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Research Director of the Independent Institute, says “those who are willing to give should be the first to receive. If enough people join LifeSharers, we could even have a surplus of organs.” Preferred access has the practical effect of increasing the supply of organs by creating an incentive for people to sign organ donor cards and join the network. Lloyd R. Cohen, Professor at George Mason University School of Law, states that “by giving people an incentive to become organ donors, LifeSharers gives hope to those otherwise doomed by our government to die while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant operation.” The use of preferred access is also supported by precedent. Under a program called “Hope Through Sharing” launched by the New England Medical Center, a person moves up the national organ waiting list when a relative donates a kidney. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which maintains the national organ waiting list, supports the “Hope Through Sharing” program. The program’s success to date shows the power of incentives to increase the supply of organs. In the first 6 months after the network’s launch in Nashville, LifeSharers has attracted 169 members from 33 states. David R. Henderson, Associate Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution calls LifeSharers “an inspiring example of the power of freedom to fix people’s problems.” According to David J. Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers, “the success we’ve enjoyed in our first six months of operation shows that LifeSharers has the potential to put a serious dent in the shortage of human organs.” LifeSharers membership is free and open to all at http://www.lifesharers.org/. The organ shortage will kill over 6,000 Americans this year, and it is getting worse every day. According to statistics compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing, almost 85,000 Americans are now on their waiting list for an organ transplant, and another name is added to the list every 14 minutes. About half the people on the waiting list will die before they receive an organ. Somebody on the waiting list dies about every ninety minutes. About LifeSharers LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ and tissue donors. Members agree to donate their organs when they die. They direct their donation first to other members of the LifeSharers network. By directing their gifts in this way, LifeSharers members create an incentive for others to donate their organs and join the network. LifeSharers was launched on May 22, 2002. The LifeSharers web site is at http://www.lifesharers.org. Contact:
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