Government Asks Court To Reconsider Bone Marrow Compensation Decision.

The Washington Post  (1/22, Barnes) reported that "the Obama administration last week asked a San Francisco appeals court to overturn a recent decision that said bone marrow donors can be paid for what their bodies produce." In December, "a unanimous three-judge panel...ruled for a nonprofit group, MoreMarrowDonors.org, that wants to encourage bone marrow donations by offering $3,000 scholarships, housing allowances or charitable donations to those who are matched with blood disease patients."

        "The Obama administration said the court was wrong to reach that conclusion and that paying for bone marrow could lead to an organ transplant market that favors the wealthy and exploits the sick and the poor," MedPage Today  (1/20, Walker) added. "The appeals judges argued that when Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act, it wasn't taking into account the new method," which "removes bone marrow stem cells from a donor's bloodstream in a process similar to donating blood." But "in a petition filed Tuesday, US Attorney General Eric Holder requested that a full 11-judge panel rehear the case" saying that "the three judges were wrong in that interpretation and that the organ transplant law specifically classifies 'bone marrow' as 'the cells found in adult bone marrow and peripheral blood,' so the law was meant to ban payments for peripheral blood stem cell donations."