MGT 554 Operations Management

Introduction

Over 88,400 Americans are currently awaiting a life saving organ transplant. As of the end of February there were 4,375 transplants performed from 2,263 donors; 1033 of those donors were living donors (primarily kidney transplants) (UNOS, 2005). Extrapolating this data, this year over 26,000 people will receive a transplant. Hundreds to thousands die each year during that wait.

Our local Organ Procurement Organization, the Gift of Life (GOL) services the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. In this region, 4,556 people are active on one or more transplant lists (GOL, 2005). For example, one person could need a heart and a kidney.

The method by which they receive a transplanted organ or organs starts with a tragedy. A person must be deemed legally brain dead or have a devastating brain injury with no chance of survival and be...