Court OKs Compensation for Some Bone Marrow Donors

A three-member panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a federal law prohibiting payment for donated organs does not apply to bone marrow harvested from a donor's blood. The 1984 National Organ Transplant Act prohibits donor payment for bone marrow but permits compensation for blood, sperm and egg donations. According to the court, a new technology that extracts cells from donors' bloodstreams is not covered by the law because the process is nearly identical to donating blood. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by a coalition of patients and the California-based not-for-profit organization More Marrow Donors.

• "Court Says Some Donors of Stem Cells Can Be Paid" (Pollack, New York Times, 12/1).
• "Pay Ban on Donor Organs Doesn't Include Bone Marrow, Court Says" (Williams, Los Angeles Times, 12/2).
• "Court Says Some Bone Marrow Donors Can Be Paid, Overturning Law That Made Compensation a Crime" (AP/Washington Post, 12/2).