Mar 10, 2015 3 min read

There are more than 77,000 men, women and children on the waiting list for transplants in the United States. Of those, slightly more than 4,000 are in need of a heart, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Anyone can designate himself an organ donor. However, an estimated 25 percent of families refuse to donate their loved ones’ organs after their loved ones have died.

Twenty-one people die each day waiting for an organ, according to U.S. government information on organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

UNOS oversees the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, a national organ sharing system. It guarantees, among other things, fairness in the allocation of organs for transplant.

UNOS maintains a computer network with the names of all patients waiting for kidney, heart, liver, lung, intestine, pancreas and multiple-organ transplants. It is staffed 24 hours a day to respond to requests to add patients, change the status of patients and help coordinate organ placement.

Waiting list rules vary for each organ. General principles, such as a patient’s medical urgency, time spent on the waiting list and proximity to the donor, are some of the considerations. There are secondary considerations involving the appropriateness of the match based upon size, blood type and tissue matches with the donor.

Under certain circumstances, special allowances are made for children. For example, children under the age of 11 who need kidneys are automatically assigned additional points.

Factors such as a patient’s income, celebrity status, race or ethnic background play no role in determining how organs are distributed.

The other major guiding principle in organ allocation involves the proximity between the donor and patient. The country is divided into 11 geographic regions, each served by a federally designated organ procurement organization that is responsible for coordinating organ donations.

First priority goes to patients at transplant hospitals in the region served by the OPO from which the organ donation originates. Next in priority are patients in areas served by nearby OPOs. If no patients in these communities can use the organ, it is offered to patients in other parts of the country.

The only exceptions to these rules are if a perfectly matched kidney is found for a patient or in cases involving the most urgent liver patients.

The public may designate their decision to donate their organs by accessing their state donor registry through www.donatelife.net or by selecting the option to donate when completing a driver’s license application.