(Winni Wintermeyer/For The Washington Post)A federal judge temporarily blocked a new policy for distributing scarce livers for transplant Wednesday, deciding that patients and hospitals in less-populated areas will suffer if the new rules remain in effect. The decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg in Atlanta came just a day after the policy was implemented. She said patients on the liver transplant list and a group of hospitals, which together filed the lawsuit, would be harmed if the new rules were used. The new policy offers livers to the sickest patients as far as 500 nautical miles from the donor. Read more:Hospitals, patients sue to block new liver transplant rulesA daughter’s gift saves two lives and could alter the U.S. transplant systemLives lost, organs wasted

Source: Washington Post May 15, 2019 22:43 UTC