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Waiting List / Process

How does the organ transplant waiting list work? How many people in Michigan are waiting for a transplant? Scroll down to find out!

How does it work?

About the United Network for Organ Sharing

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a private, non-profit organization that manages the nation’s organ transplant system and waiting list. UNOS works with donation and transplant professionals to make life-saving organ transplants possible and is committed to a fair and equitable process.

UNOS, which is under contract with the federal government, matches donors and recipients using a complex process that involves all organ procurement organizations (including Gift of Life Michigan) and hospital transplant centers (nine programs in Michigan). When prioritizing patients for transplantation, medical factors, size of the organ and distance from the donor hospital are considered; geography is especially important for organs such as hearts and lungs, which have less time to be transplanted. Personal or social characteristics such as income or celebrity status do not factor into organ matching.

By the Numbers

Organ Donation Statistics

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Number of Michigan patients who have recieved a life-saving organ transplant in the past 10 years.
Number of lives saved each day by an organ transplant in the United States.
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Number of people on the national organ transplant waiting list.

More than 104,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant nationally, and a new person is added to the waiting list every nine minutes.

Of those on the waiting list, nearly 2,400 are Michigan residents. The number waiting remains high because there aren’t enough donated organs to meet the need for transplants; in fact, only a small percentage of people die in a way that makes organ donation medically possible. Because of this, it is critical that every opportunity for donation is acted upon and that anyone who supports organ donation registers to be an organ donor.

See the Impact

Michigan Residents Waiting for Organs

Last year, the generosity of Michigan's 463 organ donors resulted in 1,050 life-saving organ transplants. Another 1,821 donors provided the gift of tissue for thousands of patients in need.

So far this year, the generosity of Michigan donors has led to 393 transplants and saved numerous lives.

Michigan Transplant Centers

Michigan patients waiting for an organ transplant as of May 1, 2023:
Kidney 1,938
Liver 178
Heart 122
Lung 49
Pancreas 19
Kidney/Pancreas 31
Kidney/Liver 24
Kidney/Heart 7
Liver/Pancreas/Intestine 1
Intestine 1
Lung/Liver 1
TOTAL 2,371
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