To the editor:

This regards “Organ donation decision comes from the heart,” (Journal-World, May 23). The generosity of live organ donors like Mali Thompson Bullard is remarkable. But we wouldn’t need live organ donors if Americans weren’t burying or cremating 20,000 transplantable organs every year.

There is a better solution to the organ shortage – if you don’t agree to donate your organs when you die, then you go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ to live.

Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 70 percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven’t agreed to donate their own organs when they die. People who aren’t willing to share the gift of life shouldn’t be eligible for transplants as long as there is a shortage of organs.

Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a nonprofit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. They do this through a form of directed donation that is legal in all 50 states and under federal law. Anyone can join for free at www.lifesharers.com. LifeSharers has 3,104 members, including 21 members in Kansas.

David J. Undis,

Nashville, Tenn.