Flynn, et al. v. Holder Jr., No. 10-55643 (9th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the ban on compensation for human organs in the National Organ Transplant Act, 42 U.S.C. 274e, as applied to bone marrow transplants. Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief to allow harvesting of hematopoietic stem cells which would be extracted by peripheral blood stem cell apheresis (the same technique sometimes used to collect plasma or platelets). The court concluded that Congress made a distinction between body material that was compensable and body material that was not. The distinction had a rational basis, so the prohibition on compensation for bone marrow donations by the aspiration method did not violate the Equal Protection Clause. The court also concluded that when the peripheral blood stem cell apheresis method of bone marrow transplantation was used, it was not a transfer of a "human organ" or a "subpart thereof" as defined by the statue and regulation, so the statue did not criminalize compensating the donor. Therefore, the court need not decide whether prohibiting compensation for such donations would be unconstitutional.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 27, 2012.
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