12/03/2011

There will be fewer shortages of bone marrow

This will probably ensure that there will be some more people who won't die premature deaths. From the Wash Post:

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that most bone marrow donors can be paid, overturning the government’s interpretation of a decades-old law making such compensation a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

In its ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a technological breakthrough makes donating bone marrow a process nearly identical to giving blood plasma.

It’s legal — and common — to pay plasma donors. Therefore, the court ruled, bone marrow donors undergoing the new procedure can be paid as well and are exempt from a law making it a felony to sell human organs for transplants.

The unanimous, three-judge panel of the court did say it remains a felony to compensate donors for undergoing an older transplant method, which extracts the marrow from the donors’ bones. . . .

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1 Comments:

Blogger Martin G. Schalz said...

Are you sure this story is correct, Dr. Lott? After all, having the 9th actually do something that makes sense is a new concept for I...

Then again, duality in a decision is not exactly something new when it comes to our judicial system. Same results, different processes in this case. So why is one process legal, and the other is not if they both achieve identical results?

As you so pointed out Dr. Lott, irregardless of the court's silliness, some folks will live simply because of increased access to bone marrow, and for that, we all should be thankfull.

12/03/2011 12:21 PM  

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