(Republicaninformer.com)- A new waitlist to distribute organs based on “equity” was recently unveiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), according to The Federalist. The current waitlist prioritizes people who have previously donated one of their organs. Most people reportedly agree that they should be at the top of the list, but the bureaucrats in charge of that decision disagree, claiming that there needs to be a more “equitable approach” to organ transplant waiting lists.
The federal government has reportedly contracted UNOS, a private nonprofit, that aims to tear down the “hard boundaries” of the current system. The current system prioritizes many living donors who have donated one of their organs to another living person, to young children, and to patients who are a hard match with just any organ.
A report commissioned by the nonprofit details a large reduction of living donor prioritization to as low as 10 percent. This new policy will reportedly disincentivize people from donating in the future. The report also shows that the policy will decrease the death rate but will lead to more failed kidney transplants within the first year of surgery.
While many can guess what “equity” is meant to refer to, the organization’s proposal is not clear. Another commissioned report shows that transplant rates by race and ethnicity will hardly change after the policy is implemented.
After public criticism, UNOS backtracked only slightly, with spokesperson Anne Pashcke saying that there is no goal to make people who have already donated lose their priority for a transplant, but that the policy will target future donors. But this is contrary to the proposal itself which is devoid of this distinction. Instead, it separates people between two categories: those who donated and those who did not without any reference to who donated before or after the policy change.
