SERINO AIMS TO EMPOWER DRIVERS OF ORGAN DONOR VEHICLES

SERINO AIMS TO EMPOWER DRIVERS OF ORGAN DONOR VEHICLES 

ALBANY—Senator Sue Serino (R, C, I—Hyde Park) today announced that her bill to designate human organ delivery vehicles as emergency vehicles passed in the Senate.

 “People spend years waiting for organs that could save their lives,” said Senator Serino. “When those organs finally become available, we need to ensure that organ delivery vehicles can get from point A to point B as quickly and safely as possible, and designating them as an emergency vehicle will empower them to do so.”

The bill (S. 7013A) would make more options available for emergency transportation of organ and human tissue delivery so that transport would not need to rely so heavily on ambulance and ambulance supervisory vehicles.

Designating organ delivery vehicles as emergency vehicles would allow them to be retrofitted with lights and sirens, allowing their drivers to more easily navigate through traffic and congestion and ensure a quicker delivery of the life-saving organs and tissues. Currently, the law allows blood delivery vehicles to operate as emergency vehicles, yet organ and tissue delivery vehicles are not covered under the statute.

 “When lives are on the line, you cannot afford to waste a single second,” Serino continued. “This commonsense legislation will ensure that those who are in line for the organs they need to survive do not have to watch the minutes tick by as their organs sit in traffic. Should this bill become law, it would take effect immediately, so I urge my colleagues in both houses to make it a priority. If you have ever known someone who has been on a wait-list for an organ, then you know, they’ve waited long enough.”

The bill is sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblymember Aileen Gunther.

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