Florida Senate - 2023                                    SB 1186
       
       
        
       By Senator Stewart
       
       
       
       
       
       17-00906A-23                                          20231186__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to organ donation; providing a short
    3         title; amending s. 395.2050, F.S.; requiring the
    4         Department of Health to establish by rule standards to
    5         streamline medical testing of living organ donors and
    6         the transfer of medical records between the physicians
    7         of organ donors and recipients; providing an effective
    8         date.
    9  
   10         WHEREAS, Nancy Whited suffered from polycystic kidney
   11  disease and scleroderma, and her declining kidney function
   12  required her to have kidney dialysis and eventually a kidney
   13  transplant, and
   14         WHEREAS, unfortunately, Nancy was removed from the kidney
   15  transplant list due to complications from an error in a
   16  prescribed medication that affected her bone marrow, and
   17         WHEREAS, despite her reluctance to ask, several individuals
   18  stepped forward as live donor candidates for Nancy, resulting in
   19  two candidates who were perfect matches, and
   20         WHEREAS, though one donor’s paperwork seemed to get lost in
   21  the administrative process, the other donor moved further in the
   22  process, but it took 9 months to get the appropriate tests
   23  scheduled, and
   24         WHEREAS, when Nancy went in for the transplant procedure,
   25  her cardiac function had decreased so significantly that the
   26  procedure caused her to go into heart failure, which eventually
   27  ended her life, and
   28         WHEREAS, while one cannot definitively state that an
   29  earlier transplant would have extended Nancy’s life
   30  significantly, any reasonable person would say that a healthier
   31  organ donor recipient is more likely to have a better outcome,
   32  NOW, THEREFORE,
   33  
   34  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   35  
   36         Section 1. This act may be cited as “Nancy’s Law.”
   37         Section 2. Subsection (4) is added to section 395.2050,
   38  Florida Statutes, to read:
   39         395.2050 Routine inquiry for organ and tissue donation;
   40  certification for procurement activities; death records review.—
   41         (4) The department shall adopt rules that establish
   42  standards to streamline:
   43         (a) Medical testing of living organ donors by eliminating
   44  redundant medical testing if prior testing was done within a
   45  specific timeframe.
   46         (b) The transfer of medical records between physicians of
   47  donors and recipients.
   48         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.