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New State Law Spurred By Area Girl Lets Younger Teens Become Organ Donors

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York has joined 47 others states that allow teenagers to save lives by donating their organs after they die.

Rockland County's Lauren Shields, the name behind a law requiring people to fill in the organ donor registry section on driver's license forms, also supported allowing teens to sign up. Now 16, Lauren received a life-saving heart transplant in 2009.

Rockland County's Lauren Shields, the name behind a law requiring people to fill in the organ donor registry section on driver's license forms, also supported allowing teens to sign up. Now 16, Lauren received a life-saving heart transplant in 2009.

Photo Credit: nysenate.gov

Previously the minimum age for making such anatomical gifts was 18; now 16- and 17-year-olds can sign up for the New York State Donate Life Registry when they apply for their learner’s permit.

Parents and legal guardians still have the final say, however, under the new donor law, signed Thursday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The measure contains safeguards that allow them to rescind the decision if the minor dies before age 18.

Thousands of New Yorkers are still "waiting for the gift of life,” the governor said.

By opening up the registry to certain teens, the state can grow the registry and make organ and tissue donations “available to all those in need,” Cuomo added.

New York is in the midst of a public health crisis where the need for organs for transplant far exceeds the supply, said the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Assistant Speaker Felix W. Ortiz, D-Sunset Park/Bay Ridge.

“The state can now reach out to more people and do a better job to promote organ donation,” he said.

Enrollment in the registry can be done through the state’s motor vehicles or health departments.

According to the DMV, nearly 10,000 New Yorkers are on transplant wait lists and every 13 hours one of them dies waiting for a new heart, kidney or liver.

Only 24 percent of New Yorkers over the age of 18 are on the registry. The national average is 51 percent, the DMV said.

One organ donor can potentially save eight lives and improve the lives of 50 others with tissue and cornea donations.

Probably no one knows the importance of those stats more than 16-year-old Rockland native Lauren Shields.

Lauren, who received a life-saving heart transplant in 2009, has become an advocate for others in need of organ donations.

Lauren’s Law, named after the Stony Point teen, now requires people seeking driver’s licenses to complete the donor registry section on their application by either checking “yes” or “not at this time.”

Previously, that section could be left blank.

Sponsored by State Sen. David Carlucci, D-Rockland/Westchester, the law was passed in 2012, fully implemented in 2015, and was just extended for another four years.

According to a report by cbslocal.com, Lauren also advocated for passage of the law allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to become donors.

State Sen. Kemp Hannon, R-Nassau, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, thanked Cuomo for helping to ensure that teens “are able to take the heroic step of becoming organ donors.”

To read the cbslocal.com report click here.

For more information about the state registry, click here.

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