California enacts law allowing organ donations between HIV-positive patients News
California enacts law allowing organ donations between HIV-positive patients

California Governor Edmund G. Brown [official website] signed Senate Bill 1408 [text] into law on Friday, allowing HIV-positive individuals to become transplant donors to HIV-positive recipients. The California Legislature [official website] passed the bill earlier that day. Brown and the state’s congress moved quickly [AP report] to pass the emergency measure in order to permit an HIV-positive man to donate part of his liver to his HIV-positive husband before it becomes too late to save his life. In 2013, the federal government enacted legislation permitting [KCRA report] transplants between HIV-infected individuals, but it remained a felony to do so in California.

US President Barack Obama [official website] signed into law [press release] the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act in November 2013. He stated this would enable scientists to conduct greater research into organ donation. The HOPE Act [materials] permits such transfers to occur only if the recipient is HIV-positive and the individuals are participating in clinical research and it also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to publish guidelines on transplant research from HIV-infected donors.