What is OPTN?
According to their website, “The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is a unique public-private partnership that links all professionals involved in the U.S. donation and transplantation system. Also crucial to the system are individuals who sign organ donor cards, people who comment on policy proposals and countless volunteers who support donation and transplantation, among many others. The goals of the OPTN are to increase the number of and access to transplants, including pediatric liver transplants, improve survival rates after transplantation, and to promote patient safety and efficient management of the system.” Learn more about OPTN.
What’s the Issue?
OPTN’s US liver distribution policy affecting pediatric liver transplant patients. In 2018, the OPTN Board of Directors passed a new policy that would significantly decrease mortality for infants and children on the waitlist without significant change for adults. The policy went into effect May 14, 2019. Learn more about OPTN and Pediatric Liver Transplants.
Insights
“Nationwide liver transplant policy caught up in court case” (AP)
“University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics’ Organ Transplant Center joins lawsuit against liver allocation process” (The Gazette)
“Analysis of Liver Offers to Pediatric Candidates on the Transplant Wait List” (Gastroenterology)
Find more scholarly articles and opinion pieces in the Open Letter and Petition
Who Supports the Change in Policy and How to Join Them
Read the Open Letter. Sign the petition.
Learn about NFT’s Living Donor Program
The list of organ transplant patients grows each year, significantly outpacing the availability of traditionally transplantable organs, and a Living Donor – a healthy person who donates an organ to another in need – is the only hope for a second chance. Be a Living Donor!