Change in kidney transplant policy would favor younger patients

Younger patients would be more likely than older ones to get the best kidneys under a proposal being considered by the nation's organ transplant network. The new policy would replace the present first-come-first-served system and is intended to provide better matches between the life expectancies of recipients and the functional life of donated kidneys. Under the proposal, patients and kidneys would each be graded, and the healthiest and youngest 20% of patients and kidneys would be segregated into a separate pool so that the best kidneys would be given to patients with the longest life expectancies. The remaining 80% of patients would be put into a pool from which the network that arranges for organ matches, called the United Network for Organ Sharing, would try to ensure that the age difference between kidney donors and recipients is no more than 15 years.