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Friday, June 27, 1997

Mother didn't know daughter's corneas were removed

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Five weeks after Robin Baldridge's 15-year-old daughter committed suicide, she learned the girl's corneas had been removed for donation and one had been given to a Fort Worth police officer.

The discovery this week was shocking, she said, because family members were not consulted about a transplant.

"The way I found out about it, I was just startled," Ms. Baldridge said Wednesday. "They did something like that without even telling me."

Removing eye tissue without consent is neither uncommon nor illegal. In Texas and about two dozen other states, the law exempts corneas from the consent requirements that apply to other forms of organ or tissue removal.

Jodie Bomar, executive director of the Lions Organ and Eye Bank, said her organization acted within a 1987 Texas law when it removed the cornea after one unsuccessful attempt to reach the family. Removing the eye tissue does not involve invasive surgery, Ms. Bomar said.

"Corneal tissue can be removed with permission from the medical examiner without the family's knowledge or consent," she said. "It's the only piece of tissue that can be removed without the family's consent."

Ms. Baldridge's daughter, Angela Renee James of Arlington, and her boyfriend, 14-year-old Gary Dean of Dalworthington Gardens, died May 19 of self-inflicted gunshot wounds at the boy's home.

A Fort Worth policeman with corneal disease in one eye received one of the corneas, allowing him to regain sight. His family was told the cornea came from a 15-year-old who committed suicide with a gun.

Because of the publicity given the dual suicide, it was easy to identify the donor, Ms. Bomar said.

The officer's mother wrote a thank-you note that appeared Saturday in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Cheers to mother, Robin Baldridge, and family of Arlington, for allowing Angela Renee James to be an eye donor," the mother wrote.

Ms. Baldridge's friend saw the notice in the newspaper and praised her for the donation when she saw her in church the next day.

"I didn't know what she was talking about," Ms. Baldridge said. "I don't have a problem with it helping someone, but I would want to be notified in some other way than someone coming up in church and telling me."

Critics of the tissue donation without consent say it could lead to illegal organ harvesting. That's the same criticism of donor designations on driver's licenses, which are being discontinued in Texas on Sept. 1.

"I always think that families need to be given the option yes or no," said Pam Silvestri, spokeswoman for the Dallas-based Southwest Transplant Alliance. "We just lobbied to get the donor designation off the driver's license. People are so afraid. ... 'They won't try to save me; they want my organs.' " Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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