Need an Organ Transplant? Don't Count on New York

PBS | Metro Focus  | John Farley

New York may be the biggest city in the country and the best when it comes to a lot of quality of life variables, but you better go elsewhere if you’re looking for a liver. Or a kidney, pancreas or new heart.

Across the U.S., on average, 40 percent of people sign up to donate their organs and tissue when they die. But in New York State, only 15 percent of people are registered donors. In an odd twist, while New York has the third lowest rate of donation in the country, the state has the third highest number of residents on a national waiting list of people needing organ transplants.

In practical terms, that means that every year, only about 1,200 people in New York State receive organ transplants, leaving more than 10,000 others on the waiting list.

Read more: http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/news/2011/10/need-an-organ-donation-dont-count-on-new-york/