Northeast Ohio nonprofit gave organs out of order, NYT reports
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The national organ transplant system has become "increasingly warped by expediency and favoritism," the New York Times recently reported in a major story. And the biggest culprit is in Northeast Ohio.
State of play: More than 100,000 people are on organ waiting lists in the U.S. Their fates are tied to the actions of nonprofits called organ procurement organizations, which recover available livers, kidneys, hearts and lungs and distribute them to patients.
- Procurement orgs have been under pressure from Congress for letting too many organs go to waste. In response, they have begun routinely allocating organs using something called an "open offer."
- If top candidates on waiting lists reject the organ, instead of moving down the list, the organizations give it to a nearby hospital, which can give the organ to any patient they choose.
Zoom in: The procurement org that skipped over patients at the highest rate over the past two years is Lifebanc, located in Warrensville Heights.
By the numbers: Lifebanc reportedly organized more than 1,000 organ transplants during that timeframe.
- Of those, more than a third were allocated out of sequence, meaning they should have been offered to candidates higher on a waiting list.
- Of the 362 out-of-sequence organs, 207 went to Cleveland Clinic.
The intrigue: The Times spoke to 10 former Lifebanc staffers who said the organization hired senior leaders who previously worked at Cleveland Clinic, and signed a contract with the hospital for medical advisers.
- Since then, the former employees said, they had been instructed to give open offers to the Clinic.
The other side: Lifebanc told the Times it bypasses patients to give organs to medical centers that are more likely to accept them.
Between the lines: The Times found that the "open offer" practice exacerbates health care disparities. When waiting lists were circumvented, transplants disproportionately went to white, Asian and more educated patients.
Worthy of your time: Organ transplant system 'in chaos' as waiting lists are ignored.
- The story includes helpful illustrations that visualize the scale of the problem.