LifeSharers Celebrates Second Anniversary

LifeSharers, an innovative grass-roots network of organ donors, today marked the completion of its second year of operation. LifeSharers is dedicated to ending the shortage of human organs for transplant operations.

May 22, 2004 -- LifeSharers, an innovative grass-roots network of organ donors, today marked the completion of its second year of operation. LifeSharers is dedicated to ending the shortage of human organs for transplant operations.

LifeSharers members agree to donate their organs when they die, and they direct that their organs be given first to other LifeSharers members. Non-members can have their organs if no member is a suitable match. By giving fellow members preferred access to their organs, LifeSharers members reward organ donors and create an incentive for others to become donors. This incentive can put a huge dent in the deadly organ shortage.

LifeSharers also makes the organ allocation system fairer but helping organ donors get their fair share of organs. Currently, about 70% of all organs transplanted in the United States go to people who have not agreed to donate their organs when they die.

LifeSharers has 2300 members in 49 states and the District of Columbia, including 270 minor children enrolled by their parents. Membership is free and open to all at http://www.lifesharers.com.

According to David J. Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers, membership growth was a highlight of LifeSharers second year in operation. A year ago LifeSharers had 776 members, he said. Weve almost tripled that figure in the last 12 months.

LifeSharers growth has been fueled by the well-known and respected experts who have agreed to assist the organization in an advisory capacity. They include:
-Steve P. Calandrillo, Associate Professor at the University of Washington Law School
-Lloyd R. Cohen, Professor at the George Mason University School of Law
-Richard A. Epstein, Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
-David R. Henderson, Associate Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution
-Glenn McGee, Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicines Center for Bioethics and Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Bioethics
-Lawrence W. Reed, President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy
-Alexander Tabarrok, Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Research Director at The Independent Institute

Undis listed other important accomplishments in the last year. We fine-tuned our procedures to ensure that LifeSharers complies with organ donation law at the federal level, in all 50 states, and in the District of Columbia. We also completed some automation projects that provide our members with better service.

The shortage of human organs for transplant operations kills over 6,000 Americans every year and gets larger every year. According to statistics compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing, over 85,000 Americans are now on a waiting list for an organ transplant and another name gets added to the list about every 14 minutes. More than half the people on the waiting list will die before they receive an organ. Somebody on the waiting list dies about every 90 minutes.

About LifeSharers
LifeSharers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit network of organ donors. Membership in LifeSharers is free and open to all at http://www.lifesharers.com. LifeSharers does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical handicap, health status, marital status, or economic status.