MMA Supports Bill Prohibiting Race, Ethnicity in Organ Transplant Decisions

March 10, 2022

The MMA submitted a letter of support for HF3972 (Rep. Ruth Richardson-DFL, Mendota Heights), a bill that would prohibit race or ethnicity from being used as factors for organ transplant decisions. The bill passed the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee unanimously on March 10, and was referred to the House floor.

“The science is very clear, race is a politically developed classification system based on physical characteristics and geographic ancestry and is not based on science and does not represent shared genetic ancestry,” the MMA’s letter said. “Since race is not biological, there is no value in attributing race to innate biological differences. Using race as a proxy for genetics and genetic ancestry allows for harmful continuations of racial ideology and has the potential to negatively impact patient care.”’ 

Citing the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, the letter noted that “leading geneticists concluded that race is neither a rational nor effective representation of real human biological variability. This project found that people can have greater genetic similarity to those outside their racial category than to those within their racial category, which demonstrates that genetic variation does not follow along racial lines.” 

The letter went on to state: “The way physicians and other health care workers think and talk about race, racism, and health disparities, affects how we treat our patients. We need to understand how race and racism result in health disparities. When we use race as a substitute for genetic ancestry, it limits us from investigating and addressing racism and other racial traumas as the cause of health disparities.” 

“The organ donation system has been failing patients of color through every phase of the process,” noted Richardson during the committee hearing. “From getting on the wait list, to finding a match, to getting a donor, patients of color in need of transplants experience different treatment in a system rooted in inequity.” 

Prohibiting discriminatory practices regarding access to organ transplants is an important step in addressing health disparities in Minnesota, which has some of the greatest racial health disparities in the country.