Legislation to allow state employees paid leave to donate a live organ is expected to get a vote in the Kentucky House this week. Testifying on behalf of the measure last week was Beth Burbridge who donated a kidney to a 25 year old who lived in her neighborhood.
Burbridge’s insurance company advised her it’s an elective surgery and that affected her timeline for the procedure and work schedule. “Normal recover time is four to six weeks. I took six days and six days is not enough time. You need to allow your body to recover from this major surgery,” noted Burbridge.
Burbridge donated the kidney for Jackson Alldaffer. She says he was diagnosed with a kidney ailment at 10 and lived with the disease for 14 years before he experienced kidney failure. Burbridge says Alldaffer is now involved in a medical trial. “So, there’s a trial for a drug that will work on his specific kidney disease. He has been going back and forth to Iowa to be a member of this trial. One of the requirements to get into the trial was having a newly transplanted kidney,” said Burbridge.
The measure provides paid leave of 240 hours for donating a human organ and 40 hours for donating bone marrow. The legislation also sets out a ten thousand dollar deduction for any citizen to cover expenses tied to the donation.
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