Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act

This bill stops hospitals, doctors, and transplant centers from denying someone an organ transplant just because they have a disability. Providers can’t refuse to refer, evaluate, list, or treat a qualified patient due to disability. They must also make reasonable changes to their usual rules and offer needed help, like communication supports, unless doing so would fundamentally change the service or create an undue burden. These protections apply to every step of the process: evaluation, waiting list, surgery, and follow-up care . If a patient has a support network to help with aftercare, the fact that they can’t do everything on their own cannot be used as a reason to deny care. Any limits based on disability must be tied to an individualized medical evaluation showing the disability is truly medically relevant to the transplant. People can bring complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights for quick review. This law adds protections without taking away rights under the ADA and other civil rights laws, and states can still go further to protect patients .

Key points:

• Who is covered: Licensed health care providers and transplant hospitals; patients with disabilities who meet medical criteria for transplant with or without supports .
• What changes: No discrimination in referrals, waitlist decisions, transplants, or related services; required reasonable modifications and auxiliary aids; recognition of support networks; complaint process through HHS OCR .
• When it applies: Across the entire transplant journey, from evaluation to post-transplant care; stronger state laws still stand .