Spread word about 'sheer goodness of organ donation'

I am one Southern Republican in agreement with New York Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky's proposal to "require that people automatically be added to the state donor registry unless they opt out of being a donor when they get a driver's license" ("Organ donation: An opt-out policy," News, June 30).

For too many years, people have died while on the waiting list for organ donations. Too few people think about being a donor.

The clergy in America could make a difference. I've been going to church for most of my life, and I have never heard a sermon about the sheer goodness of organ donation that could help abolish the dreaded phrase "waiting list." The more times pastors, priests and rabbis raise awareness of organ donation, the more it will be in our consciousness.

Every time I pass a cemetery, I wonder how many corneas, livers and kidneys buried with the dead could have helped a person live, or live a better life.

Robert Morris; Jackson, Miss.

Give donors priority

If we're going to presume people are organ donors unless they opt out, we should also give people a reason tonot opt out. Donated organs should be allocated first to those who haven't opted out. People who opt out of organ donation should go to the back of the transplant waiting list.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the national organ allocation system, has the power to make this simple policy change. Americans who want to donate their organs to other registered organ donors don't have to wait for UNOS to act. They can join LifeSharers.org, a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs upon death to other organ donors first. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded because of any pre-existing medical conditions.

Giving organs first to organ donors will save more lives by persuading more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer.

People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.

David J. Undis, executive director, LifeSharers.org; Nashville