Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/599199
ByMarilynnMarchione The Associated Press ORLANDO, FLA. You can't buy hearts, kidneys or other organs but money can still help you get one. Wealthy people are more likely to get on multiple waiting lists and score a transplant, and less likely to die while waiting for one, a new study finds. The work confirms what many have long suspected — the rich have advan- tages even in a system de- signed to steer organs to the sickest patients and those who have waited longest. Wealthier people can better afford the tests and travel to get on more than one trans- plant center's waiting list, and the new study shows how much this pays off. "Multiple-listed pa- tients were more likely to get transplanted and less likely to die," said Dr. Ray- mond Givens at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "It's a rational thing to do" from an individual pa- tient's point of view, but it raises fairness questions, and the policy should be re- considered, he said. He led the study and gave results Monday at an Amer- ican Heart Association con- ference in Orlando. More than 122,000 Amer- icans are wait-listed for an organ, including more than 100,000 who need kidneys. As of July, only 18,000 trans- plants have been done this year. The United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the agency that runs the nation's transplant system under a government con- tract, assigns organs based on a formula that consid- ers medical urgency, tissue type, distance from the do- nor, time spent on the wait- ing list and other factors. UNOS has considered banning or limiting mul- tiple listings three times, most recently in 2003, said spokesman Joel Newman. But some people think pa- tients should be free to go wherever they want to im- prove their odds, and UNOS now requires that trans- plant centers tell them about this option. "It takes money and knowledge ... traveling can make a huge difference in how quickly you get an or- gan," said Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at the Kennedy Institute of Eth- ics at Georgetown Univer- sity and a longtime member of the UNOS ethics commit- tee who thinks the policy should be changed. "Steve Jobs is the clas- sic example," he said. The former Apple chief was on a transplant list in Tennes- see and received a new liver at a hospital there in 2009 even though he lived in Cal- ifornia. It's not known if he was on more than one wait- ing list, however. Patients on multiple lists often must pay for a new set of tests, which can range from $23,000 for a kidney to $51,000 for a heart, one study estimated, plus be able to get local housing or travel on short notice if an organ becomes available. An Internet database— the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients — gives average wait times, success rates and other de- tails on every transplant program in the nation. Many people from New York, where organs are scarce, seek a second list- ing in California, where or- gans are more plentiful. Steven Taibbi, 62, who lives in Huntington on New York's Long Island, is on a waitlistforaheartatColum- bia, but is seeking a second listinginLosAngeles.Taibbi, who once helped head an in- ternational charity for organ donation, said: "I'm decimat- ingmyretirementaccountto do this. I'm not a rich guy." It can pay off, though. Givens and colleagues stud- ied UNOS records from 2000 to 2013 and found that multiple-listed patients had higher transplant rates, lower death rates while waiting, were wealthier and were more likely to have pri- vate insurance. Highlights: • Multiple listing oc- curred among 2 percent of those seeking a heart, 6 per- cent seeking a liver and 12 percent seeking a kidney. • Death rates while waiting for an organ were higher among those on a single list versus multiple ones: 12 percent versus 8 percent for those seeking a heart; 17 percent versus 12 percent for a liver, and 19 percent versus 11 percent for a kidney. WAITING LISTS Wealth may give advantage fo r ge tt in g or ga n tr an sp la nt s SETHWENIG—THEASSOCIATED PRESS Dr. Raymond Givens speaks during an interview at Columbia University Medical Center Tuesday in New York. Hours: Mon: 7am-2pm Tues-Sun: 7am-9pm 8051 Hwy 99E, Los Molinos • 384-1031 "Cafe by day, Steakhouse by night" FamousforourhandpressedREALBurgersandChoiceSteaks. Meetingroomsavailableatnocharge MILL CREEK CAFE 10 Minutes from the fairgrounds 10% Off any $10.00 purchase GOLDENRULE SMALL ENGINES (530) 526-8121 796 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff (Enter from Trinity Ave.) Come by and see us today! 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