1. United States
2. Ill.
3. Letter

I implore You and your colleagues vote YES on this bill. This bill is personal to me as I am End Stage Renal Disease patient. I haven’t committed to organ transplant yet. If I do decide to have a transplant, I would want my living donor to have the care, time off work and recovery they need after a life saving surgery for another person, the ultimate sacrifice. The Living Donor Protection Act would protect these angels by allowing them to prepare for the procedure and possible complications including death. We all need to understand that living donors are rigorously tested, they’re very healthy people, but things happen. I would not want the loved ones to have to be burdened with the costs of transplantation, recovery and possibly death. Do we want people healthy or not? H.R. 4583 - Living Donor Protection Act prohibits discrimination against living donors obtaining life, disability, and long-term care insurance. · H.R. 4582 - Living Donor FMLA Protection Act clarifies that donors are eligible for unpaid time off from work via the Family Medical Leave Act to complete their donation and recovery. This provision codifies an August 2018 opinion letter issued by the U.S. Department of Labor addressing living donation. People should not have to feel like they have to choose between life or death for someone else. As a living donor you should only be concerned with the well being and recovery of both you and the recipient. The employer protections are very important, the donor should have the peace of mind knowing they will have their job when they have recovered. All of the services and needs of both the donors and recipients deserve this peace of mind at this critical point in their lives.