When you're chewing life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle!

Did you know that more than 80% of donor organs come from the same geographic location as the recipient? Though we are often given the impression by the media that organs fly all over the country, in the majority of cases, that's simply not true.

The US is divided into eleven regions, each handled by an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) designated by the federal government. Except in the case of a perfectly matched kidney or the most urgent of liver cases, a non-directed cadaver donor organ is first offered to patients in the immediate OPO area. If no match is found, it is then offered to nearby OPOs, then, if there is still no match, it is offered to patients on a national level. Matching is handled by the UNOS Organ Center call center in Richmond, Virgina, which takes about 350 calls a day from all fifty states and Puerto Rico. (That's the call center in the picture.)

Although people tend to think that the sickest people should get first dibs on a donor organ regardless of location, the system as it stands makes better sense in terms of organ viability - the less it has to travel, the better shape it will be in when it arrives at the recipient's bedside, and the more likely it is that the transplant will be successful.

For transplant survival rates, broken down by hospital and by OPO, have a look at the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.