Walter Payton's Next Fight

Among celebrities who have had liver transplants in recent years are rocker David Crosby, actor Larry Hagman, and the late baseball legend Mickey Mantle.

Now, NFL Hall of Famer Walter Payton is being treated for a rare liver disease and will need a transplant. The former Chicago Bears star was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease in which the bile ducts of the liver are blocked.

A liver transplant is the only real treatment for Payton's disease, says CBS News Health Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay.

"Without a liver transplant, this is a fatal disease," says Dr. Senay. "With a liver transplant, the survival rate is excellent: 85 percent after five years. Let's hope for him that he does get the liver that he clearly needs."

But more than 1,000 Americans die each year because they did not get a liver in time. Do some people get an unfair advantage?

While there is the public perception that celebrities get rushed to the top of the waiting list for donor organs, a prominent medical ethicist says that's not quite true.

"In this country, if you need a liver transplant, whether you're Walter Payton or anybody else, first you need a good doctor to say your liver is failing and you need a transplant," says Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. "Then they ask, 'Can you pay for this?' Celebrities can. Payton can afford a $200,000 transplant. The rest of us? Maybe. Maybe not."

Celebrity status can get you on a waiting list quicker at a transplant center, explains Dr. Caplan. But then biology takes over and, whether you're a celebrity or not, it doesn't matter.

"Biology drives it," says Dr. Caplan, "but if you can pay, you have an advantage."

He adds that 20 percent of Americans have no health insurance. Those who do may not be covered for a liver transplant; policies vary all over the U.S., and much depends on which health plan you use.

In addition to the financial issue, regional bias has been a problem for those who need liver transplants. You have a better chance of getting the life-saving organ in some regions of the U.S. than in others.

"Transplant centers keep the organs obtained in their region in their area," explains Dr. Caplan, who advocates the establishment of a national waiting list. "Payton is in a part of the country [suburban Chicago] where people might wait three or four months to get a transplant."

In Philadelphia, for instance, the wait might be as brief as one month.

"There is an inequity around the country," notes Dr. Caplan. "It doesn't make sense for the United States not to treat everybody who needs a liver transplant equally, and geographic favoritism is something to do away with."

You can only register for a transplant once in any locality. But you can register in more than one region. For example, you can't register twice in hicago, but you can register at a transplant center in Minneapolis and another in Chicago, as long as you meet their requirements.

At Tuesday's press conference, Dr. Joseph Lagattuta, Payton's physician, said patients in Payton's condition survive an average of two years without a transplant. He also said that while the cause of primary sclerosing cholangitis is not known, it is not related to alcohol, steroids, hepatitis, or any kind of immunodeficiency disease.

Payton, 44, said he called the news conference because of speculation about his obvious weight loss. He appeared gaunt at his son Jarrett's news conference last week to announce he would play football for the University of Miami.

Payton said the disease has brought him closer to his spiritual side, and he broke down into tears as he asked fans to pray for him. "To the people that really care about me, just continue praying," he said.