E-mail this story      Printer-friendly version

Possible answer to donor shortage Letter to the Editor In Georgia, there are currently 1,519 people awaiting organ transplants. Of these, 1,463 could be saved if a living individual donated a liver, a pancreas, a kidney, an intestine, a lung, or bone marrow. The number of organs that are donated each year, however, amounts to only a fraction of what is needed. With the help and support of Sen. Casey Cagle, the state of Georgia, in answer to this shortage, passed a bill that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2005. House Bill 1410 states that any person who donates an organ, while living, may deduct up to $10,000 from their state income tax towards "unreimbursed travel expenses, lodging expenses, and lost wages incurred as a direct result of organ donation." The deduction may only be subtracted from an individual's taxes in the same year that the organ was donated. With this new law in place, it is believed that the number of people waiting to receive organ transplants will be greatly reduced. Laura Nutial Mary Taylor Web posted on Thursday, April 29, 2004