Organ

If we change how we allocate organs we will get more organs to allocate.

We should allocate organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. This will cause many more people to register as organ donors, and save thousands of lives every year. Increasing the supply of organs this way is fair and simple, and it can be implemented without legislative action. It is already legal.

Would changing the organ allocation system really increase the supply of organs?

Imagine that the United Network for Organ Sharing made the following announcement tomorrow: “Beginning January 1 of next year, we will make no human organ available for transplantation into any person who is not a registered organ donor. The only exceptions will be directed donations and cases where no registered organ donor matches an organ that is available.”

Following the announcement of this policy change, millions and millions of people would register themselves and their children as organ donors. Wouldn’t you?

Registering as an organ donor would give you a better chance of getting an organ if you ever needed one. Deciding not to register would reduce your chance. When you consider that more than half of the people who need a transplant in the United States die before they get one , improving your odds could literally mean the difference between life and death. Agreeing to donate your organs after you die is a small price to pay for a better chance to get an organ if you ever need one to live. Almost everyone would decide to pay that price. The supply of organs would go way up, and thousands of lives would be saved every year.

Last year, there were about 7,000 deceased organ donors in the United States, and they provided the organs for about 20,000 transplants. But organs are transplanted from less than half of the eligible deceased donors. That means we could get up to 20,000 additional organs every year by changing the organ allocation system. To put that number in perspective, keep in mind that last year about 6,000 people were removed from the national transplant waiting list because they died and 1,500 more were removed because they became too sick to undergo surgery. So with an additional 20,000 organs per year, we could eliminate most of those deaths, reduce the size of the waiting list, and shorten waiting times for people still on the list.

We don’t need medical breakthroughs to achieve these results. All we need is behavior change. Only about 30% of Americans have signed up to donate their organs when they die. And Americans donate only about 50% of the organs that could be transplanted. They bury or cremate the rest. All we need to do is convince people to stop throwing away organs that could save their neighbors’ lives. Changing how we allocate organs will produce that behavior change.

The idea of giving registered organ donors an allocation preference is not new. It has been around for at least 15 years. Everyone who has suggested it has predicted that it would significantly increase the supply of organs. Some have said it would completely eliminate the waiting list. Even opponents of the idea generally concede it would increase supply. They say it isn’t fair.

So, is it fair to allocate organs first to registered organ donors?

Yes, in fact it makes the organ allocation system fairer.

What isn’t fair is giving an organ to someone who won’t donate their own, when there is a registered organ donor who needs it. It’s like awarding the lottery jackpot to someone who didn’t buy a ticket.

When you die, you can bury your organs, cremate them, or donate them and save lives. When those are your only choices, deciding not to donate is a spectacularly selfish thing to do. People who make that decision have no moral claim to an organ transplant.

Without organ donors there can be no organ transplants. Giving organs first to organ donors produces more organ donors, and that saves more lives.

The primary goal of the organ allocation system should be to save as many lives as possible. Other goals should be secondary.

It would be simple for UNOS to change its allocation system to put registered organ donors first. UNOS could simply add a field to its waiting list database. That field would show whether or not a potential organ recipient is a registered organ donor. Then when an organ becomes available, instead of offering it first to the highest-ranked person on its match run, UNOS could offer it first to the highest-ranked registered donor.

Putting organ donors first