It’s election time again, which means 12 hour days training precinct election officials to keep the election safe and sound. But here’s a quickie…
(See Part I…)
Current:
Kidneys are allocated to candidates who are blood type identical to the donor when the donor has blood type O or blood type B.
The Problem:
Not all blood types are compatible with each other, and certain blood types are more rare than others. This means certain folks have longer wait times and/or a harder time obtaining a compatible kidney.
The Proposal:
Candidates with blood type B who meet defined clinical criteria will be eligible to accept kidneys from donors with blood type A2 or A2B. Otherwise, it’s still all about identical blood types for O or B.
The Problem:
Some would-be recipients, especially those who’ve had prior transplants, are more apt to reject a donor organ (sensitization).
Current:
A would-be recipient who tests at 80% or higher sensitivity, meaning that 80% or more of organs will be incompatible, receive 4 points of priority. Local candidates are prioritized over those with lower scores. [note: This is the same priority given to living kidney donors who find themselves in need of their own kidney transplant. It translates into approximately a year of wait time. ]
Proposal:
Those who score 20% or more will be given priority on a sliding scale.