As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, there were 112,509 waiting list candidates and 72,552 active waiting list candidates.
Anyone on the active waiting list is in end-stage organ failure and has been evaluated by a transplant physician at a U.S. hospital where organ transplants are performed.
"Unfortunately, 18 people will die each day waiting for the organ," said Dr. Michael Moritz, chief of Section of Transplantation Surgery, Lehigh Valley Health Network's transplant center at Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest, Allentown.
The rules of the list
Contrary to what most people believe, waiting on the transplant list is nothing like the number you get at the deli counter.
Calling it a transplant list is somewhat inaccurate. The list is more like a large pool of patients, according to Moritz.
Because each donor's blood type, size and genetic characteristics are different, there can be no ranking or patient order until there is first a donor. Once a donor is entered into the national computer system, the patients who match that donor come up, making the list different each time.
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