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Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Press Release SOURCE: LifeSharers Professor David Kaserman Named Advisor to LifeSharersAuburn University Economics Professor to Assist Effort to Create Organ Donation Incentive NASHVILLE, Tenn. – April 19, 2005 – David L. Kaserman, Torchmark Professor of Economics at the Auburn University College of Business, has agreed to serve as an advisor to LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors that gives people a non-financial incentive to donate their organs when they die. It was launched in 2002 to help alleviate the shortage of human organs needed for transplant operations. That shortage kills over 6,000 Americans every year. “The most effective cure for the organ shortage is the legalization of financial incentives for cadaveric donors,” says Professor Kaserman. “In the meantime, however, alternative approaches that can help motivate additional donors must be used. LifeSharers is one of the more promising of these.” The National Organ Transplant Act, which became law in 1984, made it illegal in the United States to pay for human organs to be used in transplant operations. Since then, transplantable organs have been in short supply and the shortage has grown steadily. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, over 88,000 Americans are now on the national transplant waiting list. About 40,000 names are added to that list every year. More than half of the people who need transplants in the United States die before they get one. LifeSharers members agree to donate their organs when they die. They also direct that their organs be offered first to other LifeSharers members, if any member who needs them is a suitable match, before offering them to non-members. They do this through a form of directed donation that is legal in all fifty states and under federal law. By giving fellow members preferred access to their organs, LifeSharers members reward organ donors and create an incentive for others to become donors. “Americans bury or burn about 20,000 transplantable organs every year,” says David J. Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers. “They don’t have any good reason to do this, but they don’t have any good reason not to either. LifeSharers gives people a good reason to donate their organs when they die – a better chance of getting an organ if they ever need one to live.” “What we really have is a shortage of organ donors, not a shortage of organs,” adds Professor Kaserman. “LifeSharers helps increase the supply of organ donors, and I’m delighted to be able to help LifeSharers.” LifeSharers membership is free and open to all at http://www.lifesharers.org. ABOUT DAVID L. KASERMAN David L. Kaserman is Torchmark Professor of Economics Auburn University’s College of Business. He is also a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and is a member of the Board of Editors of the Journal of Regulatory Economics. About LifeSharers LifeSharers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit network of organ donors. Membership in LifeSharers is free and open to all. LifeSharers does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical handicap, health status, marital status, or economic status. Since its launch on May 22, 2002, LifeSharers has attracted 3,028 members, including members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The LifeSharers web site is at http://www.lifesharers.org Contact:
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