Many needing transplants die for lack of donated organs

Evansville Courier & Press | Byron Rhorig

As of 9 p.m. Evansville time a week ago today, the private, nonprofit contractor managing the nation's organ transplant system reported:

112,757 people were on U.S. organ transplant waiting lists;

72,420 of those were active candidates.

Members of the latter group are those who have met all qualifications of need and are of sufficient health to be good candidates for surviving transplant surgery. That means any one of them could receive a transplant this morning if a needed organ becomes available.

The same agency, known in organ donation and procurement circles as UNOS — the United Network for Organ Sharing — tallied 23,747 organ transplants from 11,716 donors between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2011.

Unquestionably, many suffering end-stage organ failure are dying for lack of a donated organ to transplant. The National Network of Organ Donors, a nonprofit lobby, says 19 people, on average, succumb daily for want of a transplant, up from 14 in 1996 and 10 in 1990.

Willing donors are not that scarce. At the end of 2010, 69 percent of Hoosiers 18 or older had given consent by checking the donor box on driver's license applications. Indiana was fifth in the nation in percentage of designated organ or tissue donors, according to Donate Life America, another nonprofit.

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