[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 40 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HOUSE SHOULD DELAY PROPOSED TRANSPLANT RULES

  (Mr. BOSWELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity this 
morning to bring forth the perilous condition of one of my youngest 
constituents, Mekenzie Lee of Ottumwa, Iowa, to your attention.
  Little 5-year-old Mekenzie has liver cancer and desperately needs a 
liver transplant. Perhaps today, there are going to be proposed rules 
by HHS to make a major modification to how this system works.
  While the stated purpose of the rule is admirable and I strongly 
support efforts to increase the donations, I fear this rule may in fact 
result in a number of unintended consequences.
  It will take the decisionmaking process away from the physicians, 
those who are the most skilled and proficient to able to deal with 
this, who have got the expertise, and put it into the hands of some 
bureaucrats. Forcing a one-size-fits-all is questionable to me.
  I would ask that members join the efforts to save Mekenzie and every 
transplant patient like her who may be harmed by this proposed rule by 
becoming a cosponsor, and delaying this process for one year and give 
us time to review it, to get input from the physicians and the places 
around the country that do this work, to be in play. So please join me 
in cosponsoring H.R. 3584.

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