New Transplant Rules Go Into Effect Despite Fierce, Ongoing Debate Over Whether They’re Actually Fair
Under the new rules, a liver must be matched with the most critical patient within 500 miles. That means a liver donated in Nashville could end up in Chicago. The intent of the change is to make organ transplants more fair nationwide, but transplant centers in the South and Midwest are fighting it.
The Associated Press:
New Liver Transplant Rules Begin Amid Fight Over Fairness
Wilnelia Cruz-Ulloa spent the last months of her life in a New York City hospital, waiting for a donated liver that never came. Doctors had urged the 38-year-old to move to another state that has more organs to go around. But she couldn't afford to. Where you live makes a difference in how sick you have to be to get a transplant, or if you'll die waiting. Now the nation's transplant system is aiming to make the wait for livers, and eventually all organs, less dependent on your ZIP code. New rules mandating wider sharing of donated livers went into effect Tuesday despite a fierce and ongoing hospital turf war in federal court. (5/14)
Kansas City Star:
KU, St. Luke’s Appeal As Judge Allows Liver Donation Change
A new way of distributing donor livers took effect Tuesday, over the objections of medical centers mostly in the Midwest who say it will mean more livers heading to patients on the coasts. The University of Kansas Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital were among more than a dozen plaintiffs who had filed suit in a federal court in Georgia to try to stop the change, which has been months in the works. (Marso, 5/14)
