OPTN allows folks on the kidney wait list to stay there indefinitely, even if they become ‘inactive’ (ineligible to have a transplant due to a change in health). Consequently, the wait list is inflated by 1/3 and over half of wait list deaths are inactive. Reporter Rob Stein outed OPTN on this duplicity, and OPTN’s response, rather than fixing the problem, was to keep the official number while adding an ‘active’ statistic to the website.
And even though OPTN’s own data reveals the active waitlist in regards to kidneys has been flat for years, the transplant industry and media continue to squawk about the ‘growing’ demand for organs.
So in 2011, I decided to check in periodically and see how the wait list is faring.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these.
74,558 active wait list candidates of 10:30am, November 9, 2012.
Prior counts:
August 11: 73,104
June 24: 73,146
May 11: 73,141
January 30, 2012: 72,428
December 29: 72,656
November 28: 72,625
October 18: 72,642
August 23: 72,318
Aug 4: 72,400
July 20: 72,345
July 10, 2011: 72,360