'Lauren's Law' Could Become Permanent Organ-Donor Rule in NY

Senator David Carlucci announced that the Senate has passed his bill to permanently extend Lauren’s Law.

Lauren’s Law, first passed in 2012, has worked to increase the number of eligible organ donors in New York. The law is named after Stony Point native Lauren Shields, who at the age of 7 waited over a month to receive her lifesaving heart transplant.

“Allowing Lauren’s Law to sunset would be a major setback, putting the lives of the thousands of men, women and children who are waiting for a life-saving transplant in jeopardy," said the senator, who represents Rockland and part of Westchester. "With today’s vote to make Lauren’s Law permanent, this will increase eligible donors and expand our state’s registry. I truly want to thank the namesake for this bill, Lauren Shields, for her tireless advocacy and inspirational message of hope. I am so proud to work with her and advocates across New York who made this possible. Now this bill moves to the Assembly, where I urge my colleagues to support it."

New York State has a historically low performing registry. According to the New York Alliance for Donation, while the national average of designated donors is approximately 52 percent, only 25 percent of New Yorkers have joined the New York State Donate Life Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, placing it in 51st place out of the 52 registries in the United States, which includes Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

What makes matters worse is that New York has the third longest list of patients waiting to receive an organ donation. As a result, every 16 hours one New Yorker dies waiting for an organ transplant.

The majority of New Yorkers who join the donor registry do so through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

However, historically, only about 10 percent of individuals completing a donation-relevant transaction completed the donor designation section on the DMV form. When signed into law in 2012, Lauren’s Law mandated that the question which asked if an individual would like to sign up as an organ donor be answered on the DMV form, by selecting either “yes” or “skip this question.”

Prior to the enactment of Lauren’s Law, New York had a donor designation rate of less than 11 percen of the population as organ donors. However, since Lauren’s Law was fully implemented in November 2015, the donor designation rate has increased to 17 percent, the highest rates ever seen in New York State.

On Feb. 24, 2016, the Senate voted to extend Lauren’s Law by four years.

With Monday's vote, this ensures that New Yorkers who complete a relevant DMV transaction continue to be made aware of the opportunity to save lives through organ and tissue donation, Carlucci said. License renewals at the DMV are anticipated to grow from approximately 800,000 this year to nearly 2 million individuals a year for the next four years, meaning we can expect tens of thousands of New Yorkers to check that “yes” box to enroll as an organ donor, Carlucci said.

“I am enormously grateful for the support and dedication Senator Carlucci, the New York State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo have given to the issue of organ and tissue donation," said Lauren’s mother, Jeanne Shields. "The journey to an organ transplant is long, and other families should not have to go through this struggle. Each individual donor is crucial. We believe Lauren’s Law provides that important opportunity for New Yorkers to help save a life. Lauren and I could not be more thankful to all those who helped make Lauren’s Law permanent."

Aisha Tator, Executive Director of the New York Alliance for Donation, said a result of Lauren’s Law going into effect in 2013, New York saw an additional 50,000 people check “yes” to signing up as an organ and tissue donor. "There are thousands of men, women and children whose lives depend on us ‘staying the course’ and making sure the positive results we are seeing from Lauren’s Law continue," Tator said. "We believe the extension of Lauren’s Law is crucial to turning around the New York State Donate Life Registry’s poor performance, and saving the lives of New Yorkers."

PHOTO: Lauren Shields received a standing ovation from the Senate while in Albany on February 24th, 2016/contributed