The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) wants four Midwestern states that have agreed to share livers among themselves to include Illinois in their alliance.
The Associated Press reported in August that Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota had agreed that, as livers became available, they would be offered to the sickest patients in the four-state area. A "payback" provision would require a state that received a liver to eventually return another liver to the state from which it received one.
UNOS wants Illinois to be added to the group, but the other states have balked, reportedly fearing that Illinois — with six of the ten transplant centers in the region — would disproportionately benefit from the plan. Illinois reportedly wouldn't agree to a payback provision.
In an August 27 statement, UNOS said that it has instructed its members in the five states "to enter into a formal conflict resolution process regarding liver allocation." UNOS also called for "an interim imposition of a limited payback system within the region" but did not elaborate further.
"Any formal agreement reached by these members would replace the interim action adopted by UNOS," UNOS said.
For Your Information:
UNOS news release:
www.unos.org/newsroom/archive_newsrelease_19990827_region7.htm
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