Good news for the weekend?

Increased Scrutiny Leads to an Improved Organ Transplant System NYTimes

Background: a lot of things were problematic and NYTimes has been covering it, getting a lot of attention and debates:

  • Organ Transplant System ‘in Chaos’ as Waiting Lists Are Ignored NYTimes

    Note: this article has pretty good data, and is well presented. The way statistic facts are visualized within the article is interactive, adequately (almost perfectly) inserted. It’s a smooth read and very well structured, informative article.

  • A Push for More Organ Transplants Is Putting Donors at Risk NYTimes

    Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up. NYTimes

  • Hospitals Cater to ‘Transplant Tourists’ as U.S. Patients Wait for Organs NYTimes

Regulatory agencies are stepping in and there have been improvements:

For waitlist skipping:

The nonprofits — known as organ procurement organizations, which have contracts to arrange transplants in each state — said at the time that they were skipping patients only to place organs that were at risk of deteriorating and not being used. But The Times found they often did it to save time and money and steer organs to favored hospitals.

Since then, federal health officials have begun tracking the practice and publishing data online. The rate of skipped patients fell from nearly 20 percent of transplants in 2024 to about 9 percent in recent months. Officials have also promised to strengthen the rules to stop the practice.

For the scary “donation after circulatory death” practice:

The proposed rules would require all potential circulatory death donors to undergo frequent neurological testing to ensure they are not regaining consciousness. It would also empower health workers and family members to pause the process.

And about international transplant

Federal health officials have asked the Justice Department to investigate one of the cases reported by The Times, involving a Japanese patient who received a heart transplant at the University of Chicago within days of coming to the United States. Soon after, a charity run by the patient’s husband donated to a spiritual organization led by the transplant surgeon’s wife.