THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	52
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging all health care providers in hawaii that perform organ transplantation to consider placing HIV-positive patients who need an organ transplant on an organ transplant waitlist.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, there were 2,425 people in Hawaii living with HIV or AIDS in 2011; and

 

     WHEREAS, the number of people in Hawaii living with HIV has increased every year since 2001, in part, due to the use of a combination of drugs, known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, to suppress HIV; and

 

     WHEREAS, today, most people infected with HIV who use highly active antiretroviral therapy tend to die from end-stage organ disease and organ failure that result from chronic conditions rather than AIDS-associated opportunistic infections; and

 

     WHEREAS, in the event of organ failure, an organ transplant, typically of a liver or kidney, is often an HIV-positive person's only chance of survival; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are three hundred ninety-one people in Hawaii waiting for a liver or kidney transplant; and

 

     WHEREAS, health care facilities on the mainland currently perform kidney and pancreas transplants on HIV-positive patients who have end-stage kidney disease and diabetes; and

 

     WHEREAS, recent research has shown that HIV-positive patients who received a kidney transplant experienced a 94.6% one-year survival rate and a 88.2% three-year survival rate, which were similar to kidney transplant recipients who were not infected with HIV and higher than kidney transplant recipients who were age sixty-five and older; and

 

     WHEREAS, under certain circumstances, HIV-positive patients are good candidates for organ transplantation and have positive post-transplant outcomes, and there is no reason to deny HIV-positive patients an organ transplant solely due to their HIV status; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that all health care providers in Hawaii that perform organ transplantation are urged to consider placing HIV-positive patients who need an organ transplant on an organ transplant waitlist; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health who in turn is requested to transmit copies to the chief executive officers of all health care providers in the State that perform organ transplantation; and the Executive Director of Legacy of Life.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

HIV; Organ Transplant; Health Care Provider