Over 17,000 patients nationwide are waiting for livers, the Times reported.

The United States is divided into 58 territories for the purpose of organ transplantation, which leads to disparities in supply and demand. Urban centers require a patient to be near death before receiving a transplanted organ, while less populated areas have shorter waiting lists.

Most donated organs go to people within the territory of the donors, with any surplus organs being shared with other territories.

Unregulated and uneven organ sharing and distribution among transplant centers have led to thousands of unpreventable deaths, the Times reported.

Strokes and car accidents — the leading sources for organ donation — are not evenly distributed throughout the United States.

The longest waits for livers are in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, the newspaper reported.