Saying a liver transplant saved his life, Apple CEO Steve Jobs helped convince California lawmakers to draft organ donation legislation, unveiled at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s hospital Friday morning, reports the “Silicon Valley Mercury News” (http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_14710378).
His decision to go public with his transplant to help others was applauded by the Governor, Arnold Schwarznegger, who is advocating for passage of the bill.
The bill, SB 1395 by state Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, requires Californians who are applying for or renewing their drivers license to affirmatively accept or decline becoming a donor. The current system takes a more passive approach, merely providing a pink sticker to affix to a license, says the “Mercury News.”
The legislation would also create the nation’s first “living donor registry,” allowing altruistic people to sign up to offer one of their kidneys to a sick person. Kidney donation is relatively safe and does not shorten your life span, says Stanford doctors.
