Fight brewing over liver donation
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Currently, a donated liver is supposed to go first to the person who is most likely to die without a transplant, but the system also takes geographic factors into consideration. That means the sickest person in the country doesn't always get dibs. Instead, the system uses a "local, regional and national" algorithm.
There are wide disparities in the number of organs available in the country's 11 regions. In the South and Midwest, donations are high. Donations on the coasts are low.
So if you live in California, an area that has one of the lowest liver donation rates, you would probably wait longer to qualify for a transplant than someone who lives in Tennessee, in a region where the donation rates are much higher. That's why Apple co-founder Steve Jobs flew to Tennessee to get his liver transplant, even though he lived thousands of miles away in California.
These are disparities the organ network considers "unacceptably high." (PDF)...
This.
So they are thinking about changes, but I thought the information about availability was handy to read, especially if you don't have the money or connections it buys to get around the limitations in our health care.
