Copyright 1999 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
November 9, 1999, Tuesday Final
SECTION: News Pg. 1
LENGTH:
695 words
HEADLINE: Shalala slams 'hoarding of organs,'
demands fairer allocation system
She also proposes plan to improve
children's health
BYLINE: MARILYNN MARCHIONE
SOURCE: Journal Sentinel staff
BODY:
"The hoarding of organs" for transplants by a
state or a region "is both immoral and unethical," Donna Shalala, U.S. secretary
of Health and Human Services, said Monday.
In a news conference after a
speech she gave at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Shalala used strong
language to repeat her intention to change the nation's organ allocation system
-- a move that's been strongly opposed in Wisconsin and several other states.
"There still is movement that is taking place" among parties involved in
the dispute, and that alone indicates that the system hasn't been as fair as its
proponents claim, Shalala said.
Contacted afterward, Anthony
D'Alessandro, a liver transplant surgeon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
who has represented this state's position on the issue, said "hoarding" was an
inappropriate and inaccurate term. "Hoarding of organs implies that we're
stockpiling them, which is clearly not the case," he said. "We're taking care of
patients who are in need and who need transplants."
He also said
Wisconsin officials are lobbying Congress to adopt a new moratorium that would
delay rules Shalala announced last month until the entire issue of her office's
authority over the transplant system is settled by Congress.
But Shalala
made it clear she wants no further delay. The system has worked financially for
transplant centers, "but didn't necessarily work for the patient," who faced
varying odds of getting an organ depending on where he or she lived, she said.
"We are moving toward a fairer system," Shalala said. Recent
negotiations among transplant programs in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois on a
payback system that would allow wider sharing of donated livers "have been an
indication of that," she said.
Shalala's comments came during a visit to
announce what will become a new annual lectureship at Children's. It was named
for Marvin Glicklich, who was the first at the hospital to hold the title of
surgeon-in-chief. He held that job from 1994 until his retirement in 1997.
Glicklich also was the first board-certified pediatric surgeon in Milwaukee.
During her speech, Shalala laid out what she called the nation's
unfinished agenda for children's health.
"Even though children are only
26% of America's population, they are 100% of America's future," she said.
"Unless we act now to strengthen and protect children's health, that future
could come to resemble America's health care past."
Shalala outlined a
10-point plan for completing that agenda, including:
Reaching children
and parents through modern communication tools, such as the Internet. "Forty
percent of all the hits on the Internet are now for health care information,"
Shalala said. "The most important thing for parents to understand is that
everything on the Internet isn't necessarily science-based information," she
said, citing the example of anti-vaccine groups masquerading as immunization
information sites. People need to look for health care information from
"respectable institutions" such as the National Institutes of Health, she said.
Safeguarding genetic and other medical information and
ensuring privacy. "We can never allow our science to get ahead
of our ethics," Shalala said. "We must never create a world in which our genetic
map is used to deny jobs or health insurance."
Focusing "like a laser"
on prevention efforts. Immunization and the Back to Sleep campaign to prevent
sudden infant death syndrome are examples of successful prevention programs, but
more are needed, Shalala said. Enrolling more children in the Children's Health
Insurance Program and Medicaid is key to getting them needed preventive health
care, she said.
Seeing global health problems as the threats to American
health that they are. "Promoting children's health worldwide isn't charity, it's
in our own best interest," she said.
Increasing support for research,
and getting drugs labeled for safe pediatric use. Roughly 80% of drugs
prescribed for children have never been tested in that age group, she said.
Reducing racial disparities in health care and in the training of health
care professionals.
GRAPHIC: Photo
DALE
GULDAN
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Donna Shalala, secretary of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, offers 10 principles for
better health care for children in a
speech Monday at Children's Hospital of
Wisconsin.
LOAD-DATE: November 10, 1999
