Pentagon to Start Organ-Donor Program
The Defense Department is about to begin a program to encourage current and retired military personnel and their families to become organ donors, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) announced Wednesday.
Levin said that, under the new policy, military hospitals would keep computerized records of donors and would be able to match them with lists of patients waiting for transplants.
The senator said it could not be projected how many organs would become available under the program. But he said 7,500 people died in military hospitals in 1984, the most recent year for which figures are available.
“With each coming year, this new policy could mean the difference between life and death for hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans,” Levin said.
If the military’s two transplant centers--Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the Wilford Hall Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio--could not use the organs, they would be made available to local civilian hospitals, Levin said.
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