New Yorkers lag as potential organ donors

[hrmjustin]

MICHAEL VIRTANEN AP

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Far fewer New Yorkers have signed up as organ donors than Americans as a whole, prompting the state to seek help boosting enrollment and shortening its list of patients who die waiting.

A study from Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield showed 22 percent of New York adults in the donor registry, compared with 48 percent nationally.

The study also said 539 New Yorkers died awaiting a transplant last year while others became too sick and ineligible.

"There are too many New Yorkers losing their lives when they could and should be saved," said Aisha Taylor, executive director of the nonprofit New York Alliance for Donation.

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