The Hill has an interesting story about a proposal to allow doctors to study organ transplants between people with HIV. Federal law has prohibited such procedures since 1988, but a bill before Congress could change that.
Advocates for people with HIV have long lobbied to end a ban on transplanting organs from one infected patient to another. As the Wall Street Journal explained in October:
As HIV patients live longer, they are increasingly receiving organ transplants in the U.S.—but only from uninfected donors. Some transplant surgeons believe that their waiting time would be shortened if they were allowed to accept organs from HIV-infected donors.
The ban dates to a 1988 amendment to the National Organ Transplant Act. At the time, fear about AIDS was high, and little was known about the condition. The law was meant to prevent accidental transmission of HIV to non-infected patients.
The bill’s sponsors, Sens. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and Rom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, called the current law “outdated,” and said their bill reflects changes in the understanding of HIV and AIDS.
Organ stories 