Canadian organ donor advocate calls on Ontario government to fund transplants performed overseas

Transplant News,  March, 2007  

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An organ donation advocate is urging the Ontario government to pass legislation guaranteeing the Canadian government will provide financial coverage for patients who need life-saving transplants or pay for the transplants if they are performed in other countries.

George Marcello, a two-time liver transplant recipient and co-founder of the Step by Step Organ Transplant Association, urged Ontario lawmakers to quickly pass organ donor legislation that will serve as a model for the rest of Canada and prevent citizens from languishing on the waiting list, the Canadian Press (CP) reported.

"It should be the responsibility of the government to address these shortages so people don't have to go to other countries to seek surgeries," Marcello said. "I personally feel any Ontario resident that's waiting for a transplant should be covered (for foreign surgery)."

Marcello's call was prompted by the case of an Ontario resident who was forced to go to England to receive a liver transplant because of the Canadian donor shortage and could not get the government to pay. The recipient ultimately paid the $450,000 bill with his own funds.

"He had a choice: either he died or he looked somewhere else," Marcello said. "Fortunately (he) had the funds to cover the operation, but most Ontarians do not."

The Ontario Government is currently holding public consultations about implementing presumed consent in the province. A report based on those talks is expected to be released in March, according to the CP.

Frank Markel, president and chief executive of Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Ontario organization charged with increasing organ and tissue donation, said organ donation has been up the last two years. There were a record 172 donors in 2006, up from 148 in 2005, he said.

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