The current system of allocating kidneys is flawed, with organs being discarded that might otherwise have benefited people — and the problem is growing — the New York Times reports.

The paper says that in 2011, some 2600 of 15,000 kidneys recovered for transplantation were discarded — many because recipients could not be found in time (the article notes that “it is not precisely clear” how many discarded kidneys might actually have been useful). The number of kidneys discarded has grown over 75% in the past decade, “more than twice as fast as the increase in kidney recoveries,” according to the Times.

Federal efforts to monitor the quality of transplantation programs may also inadvertently contribute to the problem. The effort to keep success rates high has made transplant surgeons “far more selective about the organs and patients they accepted, leading to more discards.”

New proposals for kidney allocation have been put forward, but remain similar to the system already in place.

Source:New York Times