A total of 52 House members of the United States Congress signed a letter that was sent to federal health officials on Friday. The letter expressed concern over the proposed changes to the laws that govern liver donations and how they are distributed across the country. Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder wrote the letter about possibly drawing up the nations transplant regions differently and intends to discuss it in a meeting that is being held on Tuesday in Chicago.
In the United States, there are areas that receive fewer organ donations despite the higher demand. Ideally, the patients who are sickest or need them the most are bumped up to the top of the waiting list. Currently, however, the patients' geographic location will also affect the length of time that they have to wait out before receiving a donated organ. For example, California is among the states where patients have the toughest time waiting for liver donations, which means that the patient here will become a lot sicker because of waiting longer to get a transplant than another patient who is in Florida.
The country's transplant network is overseen by the United Network for Organ Sharing and this agency has proposed that the map for organ donations be based on distribution and demand. However, according to the United States Department of Health's Health Resources and Services Administration, a move like this may affect certain areas in the country negatively.
The majority of the lawmakers that signed the letter questioning the re-drawing the map of organ donations are from the Midwestern and Southern States that have a relatively high rate of organ donation. These representatives are fearful that, should the map be re-drawn, their areas would be largely affected. They are asking health officials to engage in an in-depth study of the proposed changes before implementing them. They are also urging the United Network for Organ Sharing to, instead, think of ways on how they can increase donor rates in areas "where disparities and wait times are the greatest."