Organ Transplant Agency Is the Subject of Major Criticism

Patients who are in the need of a life-saving organ transplant usually have one concern in mind: they want to live. In order to survive their illness or injury, they need to receive a donation, which they hope their body will accept without complications. However, there is now something else for patients to worry about — will the donated organs arrive on time, undamaged, and disease-free?

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is coming under major fire as they experience many issues in the transportation and quality of their donated organs. When an organ arrives late, it is no longer usable and ultimately goes to waste while the patient continues to suffer and wait for another donation.

Perhaps more frightening is the revelation of previously undisclosed truths about some of the organs donated. According to a two-year inquiry by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, investigators found many life-threatening mistakes were made. In 2018, a patient in South Carolina received an organ from a donor with the wrong blood type. In 2020, a patient in Ohio was told he actually received an organ from a donor who had cancer, and he would probably develop cancer himself.

According to UNOS, 104,060 people are currently in need of an organ transplant. Of the 21,369 donors in 2022, about two-thirds of donors were deceased. With over 42,000 organ transplant surgeries in 2022, there is a lot of room for error as UNOS’ outdated technology has no way to track shipments in transit. With an incredibly limited amount of time available from organ harvesting to transplant surgery, there needs to be a better system in place to ensure the organs will not be compromised.

UNOS’ computer system often goes down for an hour at a time, which causes doctors and patients to be incredibly frustrated with the agency. While shipping merchants like Amazon can tell customers exactly where a package is, UNOS, at times, doesn’t even know which city its inventory is in.

Besides arriving late, organs can also arrive damaged. Dr. Jayme Locke of the University of Alabama-Birmingham shared its troubles with UNOS with NPR. In 2014, a kidney arrived frozen solid, while in 2017 a package arrived “squished” with tire marks. Finally, in 2022, four kidneys had to be thrown out due to mishandling.

UNOS CEO Brian Shepard has announced he’s stepping down in September 2023. He believes UNOS is a strong company, and he credits it with the rising number of transplants each year. Organ transplants have risen by 23% over the past few years, according to NPR, much of it due to watchdog organizations ensuring that people of all races have a fair shot at receiving a transplant.

UNOS has held the contract to manage all organ donations since the model began in 1984. With all of the findings of the two-year inquiry, bipartisan lawmakers are now deciding if it’s time for another organization to step in. However, other government reports claim that hospital transplant centers and local organizations that procure organs from donors are not equipped to do the job.

While oversight is needed, patients awaiting organ transplant just want to retain hope. They need to believe there’s an organ out there that is a perfect match, and that it will be available before it’s too late.