Organ donation rates are typically low among Hispanic patients. That’s why a Phoenix hospital is urging Hispanic residents to become donors.
With more than 100,000 people on the U.S. on the transplant list, the need for organ donation is high.
Gabriel Quiroz is the kidney transplant coordinator at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital. He said transplants can be successful regardless of ethnicity, but have a better chance of success if the donor and recipient have similar genetic makeups.
“The majority of those patients that are on transplant lists throughout the United States are of multicultural communities or minority races," he said. “When it comes down to it, we do look at genetic testing, genetic matching, and the more closely related the genetic matching can be, the longer those organs may last for these recipients.”
He says there’s a need for organ, eye and tissue donations after donors die, but people can also be living donors of kidneys and livers. Kidneys are in the highest demand all over the country.
-
The Arizona Department of Health Services has reported more than 900 cases of whooping cough throughout 2025 — the highest case count in the state in 12 years. -
As Congress debates extensions for subsidies for Obamacare health plans, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says abortion restrictions should not be part of the negotiation. -
On Oct. 1, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid agency, began reimbursing for traditional healing services, making Arizona one of the first states to do so. -
A new study by Phoenix’s Barrow Neurological Institute is leading to changes in how migraine patients are treated in emergency rooms across the U.S. -
The University of Arizona and a hospital system in Yuma are partnering to establish the state’s first rural regional medical school branch.
