November 25, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) -- It used to be that blacks who were waiting for a
liver transplant were more likely to die than whites were in the
same situation.

But a new study finds that blacks now have the same chance of
getting a life-saving organ transplant, under a nationwide system
that puts the sickest patients first.

The federally funded study found that racial differences
disappeared when the old system was scrapped in 2002.

A transplant surgeon at Tufts University School of medicine in
Boston says the goal was to make the system "race-blind," and he
says it appears to have been successful.

But a disparity may still remain. The research indicates that
the system may favor men over women.

It appears on the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)