On Monday, the plaintiffs in a landmark legal challenge secured final victory when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declined to ask the Supreme Court to review last year’s decision by a federal court of appeals that it is not a crime to compensate most bone marrow donors. Now, the thousands of Americans struggling with deadly blood diseases such as leukemia may compensate donors without fear of prosecution under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA), which criminalizes organ sales and banned compensation for bone marrow donors.
