The effect of state legislation on eye donation

Purpose. Pennsylvania Act 102 implemented in March 1995 required all acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania to routinely refer all deaths to the Organ P rocurement Organization for determination of suitability for organ/tissue d onation. This study analyzed the effect of the law on eye donation. Methods . Retrospective analysis of the total number of referrals and the actual nu mber of eye donations from 62 hospitals in Pennsylvania to the Lions Eye Ba nk of Delaware Valley was performed for the years 1993 to 1998. Information gathered included donor's age, gender, race, cause of death, referring ins titution, and result of referral. Results. From 1993 to 1998, the total num bers of referrals were 988, 1,647, 8,101, 21,123, 21,783, and 22,987, and t he numbers of donors were 570, 574, 660, 644, 594, and 568, respectively. T he increase in the number of donors after implementation of the law was not commensurate with the number of referrals. This was caused by a disproport ionate increase in the number of referrals older than 70 years of age (from a mean of 33% to 52%), which exceeded the donor age limit of 69 years, and also to a lower family consent rate (from a mean of 48% to 24%). Conclusio ns. Well-designed state legislation with proper implementation greatly incr eased hospital referrals for eye donation. However, there was only a small increase in the number of eye donors because many of the referrals were bey ond the acceptable upper age limit for eye donation. A small increase in th e donor age limit would increase the number of eye donations without having to expand the potential donor pool. Education of the public may help to im prove the family consent rate.