by Romy Varghese
Newsday, March 2001

In need of a liver transplant for the past two years, Elliot Quinones of Yonkers expects to continue waiting until he is close to death.

"I'll be there soon," Quinones, breathing with the help of oxygen tubes, said yesterday.

Quinones is among more than 6,500 people in the New York metropolitan area - 75,000 nationwide - awaiting life-saving organ transplants. In 1999, more than 6,000 people died while on the waiting list, experts say.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says a new bill he will introduce would help patients needing transplants by establishing a national electronic registry of potential organ donors and creating a
$10 million, five-year outreach program to raise awareness.

Only 10 states, including New York, have organ registries, which are not linked to one another. The proposed national registry, to be administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, would combine donor information from those registries with that of donors across the country who would sign up on a new Web site.

In addition, the bill would offer $100,000 in federal grants to the 40

states that would like to set up organ registries.

To encourage individuals to donate, pamphlets on organ donation would be mailed with federal tax forms.

"The public is just not fully aware what organ donation is about," said Elaine Berg, executive director of the New York Organ Donor Network in Manhattan. "The national registry will be a vehicle to educate the public." Schumer said he hopes to push the legislation through within three to four months.

Organ donor advocates say the bill will help save thousands of lives. Dr. Lewis Teperman, director of transplantation at Mount Sinai-NYU Medical Center said two New Yorkers a week die while awaiting organ transplants.

"It's about time." said Quinones' wife Mildred, regarding the registry. Quinones has cirrhosis of the liver and hemochromatosis, and has been on the waiting list for a liver transplant for 27 months.

But as her husband spoke yesterday to emphasize the importance of organ donation, she said she can only hope a call will come soon.

"He's deteriorating every month," she said.

Newsday, March 2001