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Woman's 3-year wait for donor organ exposes complexity of US transplant system
The case underscores how rare-organ transplants face strict matching rules, logistics and insurance hurdles, even as the patient waited nearly 3 years.
- Following a May 2022 car crash that destroyed her small intestine, Phoenix resident Katherine Screws waited three years before receiving a transplant in June 2025 at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
- Intestine transplants remain rare, with only 88 performed in the U.S. last year compared with more than 27,000 kidney transplants, as Organ Procurement Organizations coordinate recovery for about 100,000 waiting patients.
- Dr. Cal Matsumoto at MedStar Georgetown said matching requires significant coordination, including surgeons negotiating how to divide critical blood vessels, and that outcomes depend on finding "the right donor at the right time."
- After Lisa Stocks of California's OneLegacy showed Screws how to "double list" at a second hospital, Screws urged patients to ask, "What is the thing that's holding this up?" for clarity on their status.
- The government is overhauling the transplant system with a grading system threatening to close some of the nation's 55 OPOs, while about 1 in 5 donated organs go unused due to matching constraints.
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23 Articles
23 Articles
Arizona woman’s 3-year wait for an intestine shows the US organ transplant system’s complexity – WTOP News
A car crash destroyed Katherine Screws’ small intestine, leaving her unable to eat, dependent on IV nutrition and often too sick to get out of bed. But the Phoenix woman clung to her hospital’s prediction that she could get an intestine transplant in about six months. That was way off. She wouldn’t get one until...
·Chevy Chase, United States
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Arizona woman's 3-year wait for an intestine shows the US organ t
A car crash destroyed Katherine Screws’ small intestine, leaving her unable to eat, dependent on IV nutrition and often too sick to get out of bed. But the Phoenix woman clung to her hospital’s prediction that she
·Baltimore, United States
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The Toronto StarReposted by 
My Mother Lode
My Mother LodeArizona woman’s 3-year wait for an intestine shows the US organ transplant system’s complexity
A car crash destroyed Katherine Screws’ small intestine, leaving her unable to eat, dependent on IV nutrition and often too sick to get out of bed. But the Phoenix woman
·Toronto, Canada
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources23
Leaning Left8Leaning Right2Center12Last UpdatedBias Distribution55% Center
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources are Center
55% Center
L 36%
C 55%
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