At lesst Congress got something useful done this week

[Scooter]

Organ transplants from one HIV-positive person to another may become a reality after President Barack Obama signed the The HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act into law on Thursday.

The HOPE Act ends a decade lifts a ban on research into the possibility of such transplants and received bipartisan support from members of the US Congress.

'Improving care for people living with HIV is critical to fighting the epidemic, and it’s a key goal of my National HIV/AIDS Strategy,' Obama said in a statement. 'The HOPE Act marks an important step in the right direction, and I thank Congress for their action.'

The federal health department will now develop and institute standards for conducting such research and the US health secretary will be able to greenlight such transplants if the research results support this change.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in the US, there are more than 100,000 patients waiting for organ transplants. HRC states that, for example, permitting HIV-positive organ transplants in HIV-positive patients with liver or kidney failure could save up to 1,000 people per year.

See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/obam ... AC6As.dpuf

[Andrew D]

Why was this not the policy from the beginning?

Is it not obvious that the risks of transplanting organs from people who are HIV-positive to people who are HIV-negative are effectively irrelevant to transplanting organs from people who are HIV-positive to other people who are also HIV-positive are negligible?

Or did I miss something?

[rubato]

Why are the details of medical care not left to the medical profession? Was it ever necessary to pass a law against using AB+ blood to transfuse an O- person?




yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Agreed. I didn't know about legislation that prevented research like this. Is it possible that it was just clumsy - that is, some blanket "Oh you can't do anything with HIV infected tissues" ruling affected the entire thing rather than just guarding against HIV to non-HIV pos transmission? Anyway, good for Congress and the President to clear this up

Meade

[Scooter]

Why was this not the policy from the beginning?

Is it not obvious that the risks of transplanting organs from people who are HIV-positive to people who are HIV-negative are effectively irrelevant to transplanting organs from people who are HIV-positive to other people who are also HIV-positive are negligible?

Or did I miss something?

I think there were at least a couple of things they were afraid of, one being mistakingly transplanting an organ from an HIV+ donor to an HIV- recipient. But I can't see that risk being any greater than any other mistake that would also endanger the recipient, so it wasn't a good reason, particularly since for now at least, virtually all of these transplants are going to be directed donations from living donors. The other was the risk of re-infection with a strain of HIV that is resistant to treatment. But that has become pretty much a non-issue in recent years with the proliferation of treatment options, plus I can't see doctors harvesting an organ from a donor whose virus is not suppressed anyway.

But as usual, it takes politics some time to catch up with the science.