A national system ensures the fair distribution of organs in the United States. The patients who will receive your organs and tissues will be identified based upon such factors as blood type, length of time on the waiting list, severity of illness and other medical criteria. Factors such as race, gender, age, income or celebrity status are not considered when determining who receives an organ. Buying and selling organs is against the law. COTA supports the efforts of patients working to meet these expenses by helping to raise funds and establishing individual campaign deposit accounts.
Patients also get support from various philanthropic organizations and programs.
Another program, known as LifePage, provides those people awaiting vital organ transplants with a free pager and paging service, enabling them to continue leading active lives while being assured that they can be reached at any time if an organ should become available. A program of the Personal Communications Industry Association Foundation, LifePage currently serves about 40 percent of the patients on the national waiting list. Also that day, President Clinton signed into law the Organ Donor Act, which promotes living organ donation by giving leave to federal employees who choose to donate bone marrow or hard organs. Mayors, surgeons, representatives of the American Red Cross and members of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons will run, jog and walk through communities alongside local children who are alive and healthy because they received a necessary transplant. Denis Lambert is a Vermont-based reporter.