NEW YORK STILL LAGS IN ORGAN DONATION

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

When it comes to organ donation designations, New York could do better to meet the need.

According to the US Health Resources and Services Administration, 105,800 people nationwide are waiting for an organ donation. More than 8,500 of those are New Yorkers and about 500 of those will die before they receive a transplant Univera Healthcare report released in March 2022.

“These aren’t just statistics, but rather our loved ones, coworkers and neighbors,” said Lorna Fitzpatrick, vice president medical affairs and senior medical director at Univera Healthcare in a statement. “We can increase their odds for a successful donor match by increasing the number of people who register to be donors.”

On average, each donor can save eight lives and enhance 75 more.

Despite ranking as one of the highest states for donor need, only 49% of New Yorkers eligible to do- nate have enrolled in the Donate Life Registry; 63% is the national average.

New York-Presbyterian, a healthcare system in New York City, stated that as of 2017, New York state ranks last in the nation for the number of enrollees.

Ten years ago, the New York state enrollment rate for donors was 29% but is nearly 50% now, which Ryan counts as an important increase. Ryan believes that increasing the number of methods for singing up for the NYS Donate Life Registry has helped the rate inch upward. Regardless of how or where a donor registers, it goes to the NYS Donate Life Registry.

Myths about medical care prevent some people from registering. For example, some people believe that their level of care will be compromised if they are admitted to the hospital and identified as a registered donor.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Jorge Ortiz, transplant surgeon with UBMD Surgery and professor

Kidney Living Donor Saves Local Man

Chief financial officer at UBMD Emergency Medicine donates one of her kidneys to a stranger

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

Jackie O’Lay, chief financial officer for UBMD Emergency Medicine, wasn’t a match for the intended recipient of her kidney. But she did save the life of a man to whom she subsequently donated her kidney.

In early 2022, O’Lay read about Elena DePaolo of Niagara Falls, a young mother who needed a kidney and posted about it on social media.

Her story drew O’Lay and prompted her to volunteer for testing to see if she could be a match for her.

DePaolo had survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but the chemotherapy and radiation had destroyed her kidneys. By 2017, she was diagnosed with kidney disease.

“I was touched by her story and everything she had been through with chemo and surviving cancer,” O’Lay said.

DePaolo and her husband had struggled to have children and adopted a little boy. Shortly thereafter she learned she was in kidney failure. O’Lay saw images of the small child and did not want to imagine him growing up without his mother.

Despite O’Lay’s generous gesture, testing showed that she was not a match for DePaolo.

Eventually, another donor proved a match and DePaolo underwent a successful transplantation.

“It was a longshot anyway,” O’Lay said. “I was disappointed, but Erie County Medical Center had asked me pretty much immediately if I would consider someone else. I in the department of surgery, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at University at BU. “Someone in Jonestown, Pennsylvania is not trying to get organs for Pittsburgh. No one wants to lose their license. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Plus, only donation experts have that access to who is registered and it is only accessed at the point of death. Doctors providing care to patients who are critically ill or injured are not the same as those who coordinate donor transplants.

The records in the NYS Donate Life Registry are secured in a database closed to medical personnel at hospitals and only accessible to organizations such as ConnectLife Registry, which serves Western New York. The organization provides the link in coordinating donation to recipients in transplant centers.

It’s also a myth that people in a coma are automatically considered for organ donation.

“If you’re in a coma, they cannot take your organs unless you’re brain dead or about to be brain dead and your family consents,” Ortiz said. “It’s against US federal law to buy and sell organs. The rich and famous do not get organs first. Popularity and finances are not considered. Your organs won’t be used for experimentation unless you designate them for a research institute.”

Some people resist signing up for organ donation as they assume that their family members would want to make that decision. Ortiz said that selecting registration in advance can provide comfort to family members who do not have to make that decision. However, they can override the decision. It can also help them feel that their loved one’s loss can at least benefit someone else.

Another myth is that ethnicity or sexual orientation makes a difference in organ donation. Ortiz said that neither of these disqualifies potential organ donors.

“One problem among non-majority recipients is that there aren’t enough donors that would match them genetically,” Ortiz noted.

Some people believe it is costly to donate organs. Ortiz said that it is free for those donating. The recipient is responsible for paying medical expenses.

It’s a mistake to assume that one’s body is too old, ill or unusual to help others. Ortiz said that no medical information is gathered upon registration.

“History of mental illness, health and age are not contraindicated,” he said. “If you’re an organ donor, you can donate your body to research.”

He also said that many people assume that religion forbids organ donation. Most major world religions support organ and tissue donation. Any religious, cultural or familial beliefs should be discussed before deciding about organ donation.

Some think that organ donation causes problems with burial and funeral services.

“That’s not true; you can have an open casket service,” Ortiz said. “The way the incision is made, it’s not obvious donation has been made. Open casket is still viable.” thought, there are 100,000 people nationwide on the transplant list whose stories I don’t know.”

According to Health Resources & Services Administration, the most common transplants nationwide in 2021 were kidney (24,670, with 90,483 still waiting); liver (9,236, with 11,891 still waiting); heart (3,817, with 3,502 still waiting); lung (2,524 with 1,051 still waiting) and other (1,108, with 290 still waiting). The “other” category includes skin, face, hands and abdominal wall. Some things such as a kidney, bone marrow and part of the liver may be donated by living donors.

One of those was a patient for whom O’Lay proved a match. On Feb. 28, 2022, she went under the knife at Erie County Medical Center to give one of her kidneys to a stranger for whom the surgery was successful. As for O’Lay, she returned to work about a week after the procedure, suffering only some discomfort and fatigue.

“ECMC goes through how your body will adjust to having one kidney,” O’Lay said. “They screen to make sure you can live a normal, active life with one kidney. They do look at blood pressure to make sure you don’t have high blood pressure or any kind of damage like if you had kidney stones.”

It took a few months of testing to confirm that she could donate.

As for drawbacks to donating her kidney, she cannot think of any.

O’Lay credited the surgical team at ECMC for “a smooth process. I can’t say enough about the transplant team. My experience was positive all the way through. I highly recommend it. It’s a process to start with but once the ball was rolling, it was quick and methodical, and the recovery was minimal. Considering you’re saving someone’s life it was an easy choice for me.”

It took about six months after surgery for O’Lay to finally meet the patient whose life she saved.

“And we are still in touch,” O’Lay added.

In fact, they celebrated their oneyear transplant anniversary by going out to dinner.

“It’s such a small world but we have mutual friends and we didn’t know each other,” O’Lay said. “His wife knew someone I grew up with and he had a lot of mutual friends with my husband, Scott.”