Organ Shortage in the United States and a Way to Reduce It

As an advisor to LifeSharers, I thought you may find the following article noteworthy.

According to David J. Undis, Guest opinion: Why won’t UNOS reduce the organ shortage?, tucsoncitizen.com, Dec. 5, 2007:

The waiting list for organ transplants in the United States soon will hit 100,000 people. Most of these people will never receive a transplant. They will die waiting for one.

About 6,000 of them will die waiting this year. This is tragic. It is also unnecessary.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the national organ allocation system, has the power to implement a simple policy change that would save thousands of lives every year. UNOS identified this policy change 12 years ago, but it has taken no steps to implement it.

What is this life-saving policy change? UNOS should allocate organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. This would cause a dramatic increase in organ donation rates.***

So why hasn’t UNOS implemented preferred status for organ donors? We don’t know.***

At LifeSharers, we’re trying to fill the void left by UNOS’ inaction. We’ve implemented a grass-roots preferred status system.

If you want to donate your organs to other organ donors, and increase your chances of getting a transplant if you ever need one, please join us at www.lifesharers.org. Membership is free and open to all. If you don’t have internet access, you can get an enrollment form by calling us toll-free at 1-888-ORGAN88. ***