Chuck Grassley

Mr. President, Claims · 20 wordsin a bipartisan approach, about 5 years ago, we passed legislation to correct the wrongs in our organ transplant program. Anecdote · 36 wordsSo, in my two decades spent fighting for U.S. organ donation reforms, I have heard far too many stories of patients who have lost their lives due to the negligence and abuse of that transplant system.Anecdote Claims · 130 wordsRecently, I requested the Government Accountability Office--GAO for short--to study and to report back to me about the challenges and the opportunities to improve pediatric organ allocation and transplantation, ¹and that is a particularly difficult operation for the people that are involved in distributing organs. We have about 2,000 kids on a waiting list for organ transplants, ²and 25 percent of that 2,000 are under the age of 5.³ Pediatric patients have limited time and opportunity to receive an organ transplant, as organ size is critical to successful transplantation. And this is especially true for kids waiting for liver transplants. Sadly, 1 in 10 infants listed for liver transplants never get a second chance at life.⁴Unearned certainty The organ procurement and transplantation system could do a better job of serving kids. Reasoning · 24 wordsWe know that if a child can get an organ transplant in a timely manner, their chances of living a healthy, longer life increase.Unearned certainty Promise · 38 wordsI am hopeful that GAO’s findings will inform better oversight of the current organ system, and I am also hopeful that these same GAO findings will inform data-driven policymaking to improve the system for children and their families. Procedure · 4 wordsI yield the floor.Procedure