Reforming the organizational and legal component of the United States of America donation and transplantation system to increase its effectiveness

Background. The demand for transplants leads to an increase in the demand for donor organs and as the result to their shortage all over the world. The United States is one of the world leaders in the number of donors and organ transplants. The article presents the results of an analysis focused on finding ways to improve the efficiency of the American donation and transplantation system. Purpose. The aim of the study is to analyze the organizational and legal components of the United States organ donation and transplantation system and identify possible ways to reform it. Materials and methods. The study carries out informational analysis and assessment of the effectiveness of the US donation and transplantation system based on the available official statistics for the period from 1991 to 2019, the results of the simulation of the application of the presumption of consent to posthumous donation, regulatory legal acts, insurance programs and scientific research of foreign and Russian scientists in the transplantation field. Results. A statistical data comparison showed that, despite the significant success of the United States in the development of donation and transplantation, there is a growing shortage of donor organs in the country, as in the whole world. The results of the analysis identified promising directions for reforming the donation and transplantation system in order to increase its effectiveness. There is great potential for increasing the supply of donor organs by the possible transition of the United States from the model of requested consent to the presumption of consent for posthumous donation. Centers for the procurement of donor organs have the least efficiency in the US organizational model of donation and transplantation. The financial vulnerability of living donors and organ donor recipients requires attention, because insurance programs do not cover their expenses, incl. on immunosuppressive drugs, due to the gap between the standards of care for organ donor recipients and the policies of insurance companies. The ongoing support measures for living donation are clearly insufficient. Conclusion. The directions of the US donation and transplantation system reforming identified in the course of the study require further elaboration and discussion in American society, the adoption of new regulatory legal acts, the development of new rules for the work of the system participants, adjustments to the assessment procedure, funding and support at the state and international level. Only a set of organizational, legal, financial and stimulating measures will help to increase the number of donor organs and the number of transplants.

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