Organ Network Mapping Path to Make Liver Transplants Fairer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Where you live affects whether you get a timely liver transplant or die waiting.

Now the nation's transplant network says it's time to make the system fairer -- by redrawing the map that governs how donated livers are distributed.

Some regions have fewer donated organs, and higher demand for them, than others.

The change being proposed Monday by the United Network for Organ Sharing would shift those boundaries and allow wider sharing.

The goal is to give all patients awaiting a liver a fair opportunity so someone in California or New York, among the toughest places to get a new liver today, doesn't have to be a lot sicker before a transplant than someone in South Carolina.

The transplant network will consider public reaction to the proposal before finalizing changes.