Hello World
An Algorithm Decides Who Gets a Liver Transplant. Here Are 5 Things to Know.
Issues with liver allocation point to a larger issue within the U.S. transplant system
Challenging technology to serve the public good.
Malena Carollo investigates broken systems and wrongdoing.
Her most recent investigation found that a sweeping change to an algorithm deciding who gets a life-saving liver transplant hurt patients in several poorer, more rural states in the South and Midwest. Other states, however, benefited significantly—including several whose transplant leaders orchestrated the change behind the scenes. The investigation was copublished with The Washington Post.
Her previous work prompted an investigation by the Florida Attorney General’s office into an auto lender’s predatory practices, highlighted a state-sanctioned loan program saddling homeowners with significant debt, and showed that Florida’s largest power company was among the deadliest for customers. Her work was the basis for an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
Malena mentors other journalists through the Investigative Reporters & Editors program with Journalism Mentors.
She earned her master’s degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she studied investigative and data reporting and practical digital security. When she isn’t working, she enjoys hiking. She is based in Florida.
Hello World
Issues with liver allocation point to a larger issue within the U.S. transplant system
Organ Failure
Regulators allowed many organ procurement nonprofits to falter—and now states are battling over scarce organs
Organ Failure
The move would disrupt the influence of contractor UNOS, whose control of organ sharing has been nearly all-encompassing for decades
Organ Failure
Hospitals in New York and California engineered a policy shift that let them source livers from hundreds of miles away
Organ Failure
Life-saving liver transplants have plummeted in some Southern and Midwestern states with higher death rates from liver disease, while New York and California have made big gains
Show Your WorkOrgan Failure
We found that new requirements led to plummeting transplants in some poorer states while New York and California saw big gains
Locked Out
Investigation on tenant screening used to illustrate needed reforms
Denied
Minnesota attorney general warns lenders: Don’t be surprised if you’re investigated
Locked Out
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advised screening agencies to stop error-prone practice
Locked Out
The move comes after a Markup and New York Times series revealed screening agencies relying on faulty information to deny people homes
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