Why thousands of donor kidneys are thrown in the garbage every year

Each year, for the last five years, more than 2,600 donated kidneys have gone to waste. Some of those kidneys are simply unhealthy and wind up discarded, but experts say up to half are perfectly fine. What’s the problem? An inefficient system. The outdated donor registry keeps imprecise records, some say, and the short shelf-life of donated organs sometimes gives busy hospitals only an hour to respond.