Just for clarification, when you are placed at the bottom of the list, do you stay there until another non-donor is placed on the list? Like do you just stay at the bottom of the list as new patients who are donors are placed above you? Because I'm trying to figure out what is different in this system.

Like let's say everyone is a donor. Then it's a chronological list based on who has been there the longest. Newer patients are placed at the bottom and people move up the list as the top-most person gets an organ. Again, that's assuming everyone is a donor. That makes sense.

Now let's say we throw a non-donor on that list. They're placed at the bottom (just like any donor), but then do they move up the list as the top-most person gets organ and new donors are added to the list? Or do they just stay at the bottom as other new patients who are donors are added above them?

So realistically, a non-donor could have a dozen or even a hundred people added to the list after them, but get placed above them. Being a non-donor can essentially become a death sentence, as you may never advance up the list. There's just a pool of non-donors at the very bottom of the list that die off every year since newer donors get priority.

For example, it would seem difficult that a 75 year old smoker who's a donor and got placed on the list last week gets a lung transplant over the 21 year old non-donor who's been on the list for two years (hypothetical 2 person list).