Senate committee passes bill to end ban on HIV-positive organ donation

An amendment to the 1988 National Organ Transplant Act made HIV-positive organ donation. You couldn’t even research it, thanks to a law that at the time was meant to help stem the spread of a little-understood disease we now know as AIDS. However, critics say that the disease – and its treatment – are much more advanced now, and the law needs to be overturned because it does more harm than good. Case in point: many HIV-positive patients are living much longer lives now, but are suffering higher levels of liver and kidney failure, and could benefit from the transplant of HIV-positive organs. A bi-partisan effort passed a bill to end the ban, saying that the time was right to amend the law.