Organ Transplants • Bend & Central Oregon News, Weather, Sports

Patients denied transplants as donor organs are discarded

PART 1: Centers forced to focus on benchmarks rather than patients

Published Jan 3, 2014 at 10:37AM / Updated Jul 7, 2014 at 12:44PM

High-risk patients are being denied organ transplants even as thousands of viable organs are thrown out each year, as a result of government regulations that hold transplant centers to certain survival benchmarks. Centers are cherry-picking patients to ensure they comply. ...MORE

Transplant centers pull back to avoid sanctions

PART 2: High-risk patients can put programs in jeopardy

Published Jan 3, 2014 at 10:37AM / Updated Jan 8, 2014 at 05:58AM

Transplant centers on the brink of federal sanctions for subpar outcomes become more conservative about they types of patients they’ll transplant and the types of organs they’ll accept. ...MORE

Transplantable organs go to waste

PART 3: Centers feel regulatory pressure to avoid non-ideal organs

Published Jan 3, 2014 at 10:37AM / Updated Jan 8, 2014 at 05:51AM

Gains made in expanding the supply of organs have been reversed as centers are reluctant to use organs that could bring down their overall post-transplant survival rates. Thousands of organs are wasted even as patients in need of them die on the waiting list. ...MORE