UNITED STATES -- In the US alone, about 13,000 people are waiting to get a liver transplant. Patients with a liver problem can be caused by any number of factors, whether it‘s due to a virus, alcoholism or just sheer genetic bad luck. Their body is suffering because their liver is not able to function anymore. It has become a struggle for their bodies to produce clean blood that could circulate in their system.
When medications don't seem to work anymore, the best chances for survival is through a liver transplant. It is like getting a new liver to replace the old one. For these patients, it's another shot at life. Each year, in the US, roughly 8,000 patients are given another chance to live a normal, healthy life. The rest who don't get the healthy liver will just have to wait. They are in the transplant list, but as they wait, they only get sicker.
There are always people who need new organs. However, not every state in the US has the same list of organ donors. Some regions are lucky to have a long list of potential donors, while others have very few choices as they play the waiting game.
How long does a patient have to wait to get a new liver? Who decides who gets the next available one?
The National Organ Transplant System is managed by an organization that decides who gets the next available organ. By the end of this month, they will try to make donated organs available nationwide. It would no longer be limited to the state where the organ donor is registered.
All organ donations will go through the system and will be distributed evenly to the rest of the country. The distribution will be based on the qualifying factors of the patient and the severity of their disease. Also, the chances of survival of the patient will be taken into consideration prior to getting organ transplantation.
However, there are quite a number of states that wish they could keep their organ donations to patients who need it within the state borders. The struggle is on the grounds of fairness. The new system hopes to reduce geographic inequity. However, experts say that instead of reducing that, it may only exacerbate inequities at a bigger scale.
Organ donation saves lives and the number of donors is increasing by the year. In 2018, 36,527 organ transplants were performed in the United States making it sixth consecutive record. Unfortunately, it's still not enough and thousands are suffering while they wait. Indeed, there is nothing more beautiful than saving someone who is dying. Is it possible to have a system that doesn't discriminate?
