Kidneys donated by Black people are more likely to be thrown away. A bioethicist explains why.

As one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., kidney disease is a serious public health problem. The disease is particularly severe among Black Americans, who are three times more likely than white Americans to develop kidney failure.

As a scholar of bioethics, health and philosophy, I believe this flawed system raises serious ethical concerns about justice, fairness and good stewardship of a scarce resource — kidneys. RELATED: 'Racism is a global public health crisis': Author Layal Liverpool says racist ideas still pervade medicine, and that hurts all of us

People who have two copies of the riskier forms of the APOL1 gene almost all have ancestors who came from Africa, especially from West and sub-Saharan Africa. In the U.S., such people typically are categorized as Black or African American. Making organ transplantation more equitable could be as simple as ignoring race when evaluating donor kidneys, as some medical researchers have proposed.

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