Friday, July 17, 2009
Mark Wahlberg, organ donor supporter
When mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists were first adopted, advocates argued the requirement was a win-win for everyone—from riders to the health care system. Well, perhaps not. Researchers at Michigan State University have concluded that helmet laws can have an unintended, negative impact—on patients needing organ transplants. In fact, they found that helmets are so effective in protecting motorcyclists who wear them that organ donations due to motor vehicle fatalities went up 10% when states repealed helmet laws.
The Michigan State researchers aren’t the only ones who believe helmet laws may be bad for organ donors. In 2003, the state legislators in California and New Mexico proposed new laws that would have made organ donation the default for all motorcyclists who were not wearing a helmet and were declared brain dead as the result of an accident. The proposals would have created an “opt out” system for motorcyclists who sign a form stating their desire not to donate their organs in the event of a fatal accident.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Donorcycles: Do Motorcycle Helmet Laws Reduce Organ Donations? (by Stacy Dickert-Conlin, Todd Elder and Brian Moore, Michigan State University) (PDF)
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