Congress approves 30 days leave for organ donors

Federal employees will be able to take 30 days of leave to serve as organ donors, under a bill approved by Congress last week.

The Senate cleared the Organ Donor Leave Act (H.R. 457) on Sept. 8, sending the bill to President Clinton for his signature.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., would give federal employees who donate organs 30 days of leave. Under current law, employees are allowed seven days of leave to donate bone marrow or organs. The bill would not change the allotted leave time for bone marrow donations. But Cummings said seven days is not enough time for an organ donor to recover from the surgery.

The leave provided under the bill is separate from traditional annual or sick leave provided to federal workers.

President Clinton has said he supports the bill.

According to United Network Organ Sharing's scientific registry data, 4,122 organs were recovered in 1998 from living donors while, as of May 5, 1999, 43,622 people were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, the most common organ transplant involving living donors.