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The U.S. government is overhauling parts of the nation's transplant system to make sure organs from the dead no longer go to waste — and to make it easier for the living to donate. The rules proposed Tuesday aim to ease an organ shortage so severe that more than 113,000 Americans linger on the transplant waiting list — and about 20 die each day. (Neergaard, 12/17)

The effort could yield 6,000 more organs annually, health officials said, a step toward reducing the huge waiting list for kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs. More than 114,000 people are on that list; many wait years for an organ. Thirty-three of them die each day. The proposed changes, which would take effect in 2022, could increase organ donation and transplantation from about 36,000 annually to 42,000 by 2024, officials said. (Kindy and Bernstein, 12/17)

It is estimated that 20 U.S. patients die every day from lack of donor organs, the officials said, which can come from accident victims who donate an organ or, in some cases, from relatives of a patient. Transplant-organization officials estimate that 115,000 people are on transplant waiting lists, about 95% of whom need a kidney or liver. (Burton, 12/17)

“Every day, twenty Americans die waiting for an organ and thousands of Americans are languishing on waitlists,” said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma. “That is unacceptable and represents a missed opportunity to save lives and improve patients’ quality of life.” (Sullivan, 12/17)