A New York woman whose husband died in January after donating part of his liver to his brother appeared at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation to urge a halt to living-donor liver transplants.

Vickie Hurewitz, whose husband Mike died following surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital (see earlier Transplant Week story), took her message to ACOT after a hastily arranged meeting with Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Claude A. Allen.

The Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, created by former DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala to provide expert input on some of the major issues facing transplantation, focused heavily on donation issues -- including the desirability of providing some kind of financial incentive for cadaver donation -- at its second meeting since its formation.

Hurewitz, who earlier walked briefly on a plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue carrying the picket sign "Unregulated Liver Donation Surgery Killed My Husband," expressed the strong view that "it's morally, ethically and medically sound to ask healthy people to give up their lives and health for donation."

She pointed out that there currently is no regulation of living donor liver transplants, and little research on how many living organ donors have died or developed complications after surgery.

Other sources: ACOT, Albany Times Union