DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
4040 North Fairfax Drive

NATIONAL CENTER FOR Arlington, Virginia 22203
CHRONIC DISEASE CONTROL

REFER TO: KDC/PPS

January 3, 1968

Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Genetics
Stanford University

School of Medicine
Palo Alto, California 94305

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

Your recent letter, and article titled "Moribund Patient's Trust Is At
Stake" in the Washington Post answer many of the issues that I posed in
my inquiry. I am particularly interested in your recommendations that
mutual health clubs be established to maintain a large pool of available
kidneys, and that an insurance policy be provided to protect the living
donor. Mutual health clubs should be valuable in the future when trans-
plantation between non-relatives is more successful and widely accepted.
The providing of an insurance policy would resolve much of the moral and
legal concern that we have for the donor who derives little or no benefit
from the donation, and might possibly be seriously injured by the surgi-
cal procedure.

At present efforts are being made by Mr. William Curran of Harvard and
Dr. Stason of Vanderbilt to draft a model law permitting persons to
donate their organs for use after death. This proposal will be presented
this summer for evaluation to the National Conference of Commissioners on
Uniform State Laws of the American Bar Association. If approved it will
subsequently be sent to the various states for consideration in the hope
that state legislators will alter their existing laws on organ procure-
ment.

I want to thank you again for answering my letter and would appreciate
the opportunity of soliciting your assistance in the future as we further
investigate these problems.

 

 

Sincerely, 2
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Stanford U. Medical Schcol - Genetics OMAim @ R ‘ ananosds
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