U.S. states are waging a civil war over donated livers. Will a new proposal finally resolve it?
The messages, many deeply personal, focus on the regional boundaries that divide life from death for patients with liver disease.
“My partner passed away waiting for a liver transplant in Chicago,” one commenter wrote in support of a proposal to change the nation’s system of allocating livers. “Any move that can make access to transplant more equitable is a move in the right direction.”
Another commenter, from South Carolina, disagreed: “I’m a 63 year old male that had a successful liver transplant on 5/9/14′ at MUSC Charleston SC…I truly believe residents of SC should receive these desperately need[ed] organs first, before shipping them to other regions.”
Yet another wrote: “People in NY need to take care of people in NY. If they can’t, well they should move somewhere else.”
All were writing in a response to a that would change the geographic lines that determine access to donor livers in communities period, set to conclude at midnight, has drawn more than 500 submissions from patients, advocacy groups, and physicians. Now a key panel must decide whether it should advance the plan toward a vote in December by the board of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
