Nationwide liver transplant policy caught up in court case
ATLANTA (AP) - An attorney says a nonprofit that manages the U.S. organ transplant system is rolling back a new nationwide policy over how to allocate scarce livers available for transplants as the issue is tied up in a lawsuit.
Sara Frey said during a hearing Monday in federal court in Atlanta that the United Network for Organ Sharing was on track to reinstate its old policy by Thursday morning.
U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg last week ordered the rollback pending the outcome of a court appeal that could take months to resolve.
The order came in a lawsuit by hospitals and patients that claim the new policy will waste viable livers and result in fewer transplants.
The policy aims to ease geographic disparity in access to livers by prioritizing the sickest patients.