Senate Panel Advances Bill On Transplant Discrimination
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- A state Senate panel has advanced legislation intended to stop organ transplant agencies from discriminating against people with disabilities.
The bill, sponsored by Philadelphia Democrat John Sabatina, cleared its first hurdle by passing out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would prohibit organ transplant discrimination against patients on the basis of physical, mental or developmental disability.
"Senate Bill 108 has been named "Paul's Law" on behalf of Paul Corby, a young man from Pottsville who needs a heart transplant, but is experiencing this very type of discrimination," Sabatina said. "He was denied a life preserving heart transplant during the summer of 2011 because he has autism and psychiatric issues."
Sabatina says that kind of discrimination is "inhumane and unacceptable." He says right now, people with those types of disabilities can't even get on the waiting list for transplant. He says his bill does not guarantee them an organ but simply allows people with special needs to get on the list.