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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Lauran Neergaard

Woman's 3-year wait for donor organ exposes complexity of US transplant system

Katherine Screws poses in the pre-op room with her husband, Stephen Gerrish, before her intestine transplant surgery at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, June 1, 2025, in Washington - (Katherine Screws)

After a severe car crash destroyed Katherine Screws’ small intestine, she was left unable to eat, reliant on intravenous nutrition, and often too ill to leave her bed. The Phoenix resident held onto her hospital’s forecast that an intestine transplant would take roughly six months.

That timeframe was vastly mistaken; she would wait three years following the accident to receive one.

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