Since 2015, NYLPI has been working to advance Kidney/Transplant Justice for immigrant New Yorkers.  Due to misinformation, healthcare inaccessibility, and mistreatment of immigrant patients, many people in need of kidney transplants are denied necessary, lifesaving healthcare – furthering racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. Our campaign for equitable access to kidney transplantation developed from the experiences of Health Justice clients, many of whom face difficulty with being placed on a transplant list despite being PRUCOL (having state Medicaid or Essential Plan insurance). This campaign is part of our Health Justice program’s vision to advance the right to health, combat the discrimination faced by immigrant New Yorkers, and to provide education to the healthcare industry. 

NYLPI has been advancing this work through direct representation/advocacy, legislative efforts, trainings, and research. These efforts have included advocating for individual clients to receive transplants, conducting trainings for Dialysis Centers, community health clinics, hospital staff, and other administrators and healthcare providers on PRUCOL, and supporting legislative reform to expand healthcare insurance for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. 

Our Transplant Equity Report

Most recently, our work has concluded in a 2023 report, “They Can Donate But They Can’t Receive,” documenting the many barriers immigrants face to receiving life-saving organ transplants in New York.

Copies of the new report published by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), Make the Road NY, and the New York Immigration Coalition are available in English, Spanish and other languages upon request.

Read more coverage here: Crains NY Health Pulse | New York Times | Spectrum News | Telemundo 47

Featured on Telemundo 47

This 2022 segment explains how undocumented immigrants in New York are able to be organ donors but are unable to receive a transplant — even in the case of a life-threatening emergency. Learn more here.