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Why doesn't Missouri and Kansas accept live liver donors
Hi, My friend needed a liver transplant. She lived in Missouri but went to KU Medical Center. KU Med Center doesn't accept live liver donors. It is my understanding that the entire state of Missouri and Kansas doesn't accept live liver donors. Can someone tell me if this is correct? Does this hold true for the entire Region 8 states? And, where are these rules/policies set? By state law? Board of Directors? My friend was at the top of the liver transplant list but a liver never came. I am hoping someone can give me some information so I can try to get this changed. Thank you in advance. cjp
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@cperry6 I am very sorry to hear that your friend passed away. We never expect that of course and when it happens it's such a shock. I knew a woman last year who also did not make it to transplant. She went to a local hospital and they did not have her transported to the transplant hospital. I have always wondered if that might have made a difference because at one point I was very sick but was sent by ambulance to MGH, my transplant hospital (my husband pretty much insisted that the local hospital do that and they were quite happy to oblige and get me out of there). I was told locally that I was close to having a cardiac arrest due to how low my hemoglobin and hematocrit numbers were.
For info for anyone wondering about this though, the SRTR.org site lists all the hospitals that do transplants, by organ. It tells how many live donor transplants each hospital has done also. MGH does some live donor transplants but I have noticed that Lahey Clinic in Burlington (MA) does quite a few. Also, I believe it's the University of Pittsburg that is really big on live donors, they do more than anywhere else in the country.
JK