Liver transplant plan could punish donor-rich South
...UNOS may redraw liver-sharing regions. The new map would result in more donations from Tennessee being shipped to states beyond its existing district, which also includes Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Vanderbilt’s liver transplant center is one of 60 across the nation that have gone on record against the redistricting proposal. Directors of those centers have signed a letter saying the proposal represents “the most drastic change in liver allocation ever and would significantly disadvantage many areas of the country currently able to serve their patient populations.”

Although he is not on a transplant list, Wyatt is keeping a close watch on the proposal because his doctor has told him he may someday need a new liver. He compares it to political gerrymandering and says areas of the country with low donation rates simply need to get more people to sign up as organ donors.

“What they are wanting to do is take the areas of high donation rates, like the South, and turn them into an organ farm to send them from areas of high donation rates to areas of low donation,” Wyatt said. “That is their proposal in a nutshell.”...