STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1149

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 52

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.R. No. 52 entitled:

"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,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge all health providers in Hawaii that perform organ transplantation to consider placing HIV-positive patients who need an organ transplant on an organ transplant waitlist.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that in 2011 at least 2,425 people in Hawaii had HIV or AIDS and that this number has increased every year since 2001 because of the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy.  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.  Your Committee further finds that 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 recent research has shown that HIV-positive patients who received a kidney transplant experienced a 94.6 percent one year survival rate and a 88.2 percent 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. 

     Your Committee also finds that 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.  As a result, your Committee urges all health providers in Hawaii that perform organ transplantation to consider placing HIV-positive patients who need an organ transplant on an organ transplant waitlist.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 52 and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair