Organ Transplants Depends On How Much Money You Have

A recent study reveals that a factor in how fast someone receives an organ transplant is dependent on how much money they have. Doctor’s say this goes against the purpose of the waiting list which is supposed to deliver organs to the sickest of patients. Ana Kasparian (The Point), Hannah Cranston (Think Tank), Hasan Piker (Pop Trigger) hosts of The Young Turks discuss.

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“Registering with more than one organ transplant center appears to give an edge to wealthy patients over those with the most medical need, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015.

Researchers studied the national database of organ donors from 2000 to 2013 and found that patients who simultaneously listed at more than one center had higher transplant rates, lower death rates while waiting, were wealthier and were more likely to be insured.

“It’s an effective approach to address long waiting times and the shortage of organs available for the increasing demand among transplant candidates. But it undermines a bedrock principle of organ transplantation – which is that the sickest people should be transplanted first,” said Raymond Givens, M.D., Ph.D., study lead author and advanced heart failure and transplant fellow at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. “We firmly believe the multiple listing policy needs to be reconsidered.”

Researchers analyzed the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database, identifying adult patients listed as first-time, single-organ candidates for either heart, lung, liver or kidney transplants. The network is a nonprofit that manages the U.S. organ transplant system under federal contract. UNOS policy allows organ transplant candidates to be listed at multiple centers simultaneously.”