At this moment, more than 98,000 Americans are waiting for life-saving organs. Eighteen of these individuals die each day, still waiting. What can be done about the gap between those waiting for transplants and the number of organs currently available? The government could continue to air expensive public service announcements promoting donation. Organizations such as Donate Life America could launch costly nationwide efforts to increase the availability of organs for transplantation, as they already regularly do. But a superior solution to the organ and tissue shortage is an alteration of the current laws surrounding donation.

As it stands, an individual must consent during his or her lifetime to be an organ donor. In Michigan, one can become a donor by filling out the Michigan Organ Donor Registry form online. Once the form is processed, you'll receive a small heart-shaped sticker to put on the front of your driver's license. While this process isn't overly complicated, it still requires some effort and knowledge of the process on the part of the person wishing to become a donor. But a person desperately in need of a heart transplant shouldn't have to count on someone else's motivation or awareness to be offered a second chance at life.

The United States's current consent-based method of organ donation must be overhauled. One alternate option that has seen success in other countries is the presumed-consent-with-opt-out system. In this system, every individual is automatically placed on the donor registry. Only by specifically requesting to be removed from the registry or through family objection if no request is specified could a hospital be prevented from harvesting an individual's organs for transplantation. This change would ensure that many more individuals would receive the transplant they need.

This new approach would result in considerably higher donation rates. Spain requires individuals to opt out of organ and tissue donation and, as a result, has a higher donor rate than either the United States or the United Kingdom, both of which currently utilize consent-based systems. If the United States's current attitude towards donation is altered, studies indicate that the percent increase in the availability of organs would range from 16 to 50 percent. It has also been shown that the list of those waiting for organs in countries with presumed consent with opt out systems is substantially shorter than it is in the United States.

Patient right organizations contend that the decision about giving one's organs should only be left to patients and their families. But the opt-out method lets the patient decide the fate of his or her organs after death. If an individual or their family is uncomfortable with the donation process, they can easily be removed from the donor registry.

The alternate system also works to rectify another major social problem. With the long waiting list in the United States, those who are financially secure are often forced to travel to developing countries to obtain black market organs in order to survive. The practice is currently thriving in countries like South Africa and India. Black market organ donation has garnered so much attention that it has even been termed "transplant tourism." In this thriving underground market, poor individuals sell kidneys for $800 a piece. Selling a kidney is especially dangerous, as the surgeries to remove the organs are often done in less than sanitary conditions. Having sold a kidney also leaves an individual vulnerable to death if a problem arises with their remaining kidney.

While public service announcements and national campaigns to promote donor registration are undoubtedly assisting current crises, only a major overhaul in the current laws will truly solve the problem. But until laws are altered, please discuss organ and tissue donation with your family and friends and join the Michigan Donor Registry at www.giftoflifemichigan.org.

Tom Michniacki is an LSA senior. He can be reached at tmich@umich.edu