Organ donation rates are up nationwide, and that includes the golden state. Marianne Russ reports.
Awhile ago, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration set a goal for hospitals: a 75 percent organ donation rate from eligible donors. Four years ago, 55 of them had hit that target. Now close to 400 hospitals have reached it -- 44 of them are in California.
Duke: Organ donation has gone up significantly across the country.
Dr. Elizabeth Duke is the Administrator of the federal agency. She says they launched a major program aimed at increasing donation rates by studying best practices at hospitals. But she says the need for organs grows at a faster pace than even their best efforts:
Duke: We still lose today about 19 people a day who die because there was not an organ available to transplant.
Duke says a few years ago, the total number of organ donations was around 19,000. Last year it was close to 30,000.
