Originally published November 27 2005
Federal investigation prompts closing of ineffective organ transplant program
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The University of California Irvine Medical Center has voluntarily closed its transplant program after a federal investigation determined that 30 people died waiting for transplants in the last two years.
Dozens of people who waited months or even years for new livers at UCI Medical Center will turn to other hospitals after a federal investigation led to an abrupt shutdown of the facility's transplant program.
More than 100 patients at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center could transfer to one of five other liver programs in greater Los Angeles, or go elsewhere.
Many could get desperately needed surgery within weeks or months, said Tom Mone, chief executive of OneLegacy, a nonprofit group that contracts with the federal government to procure organs for patients in Southern California.
The UCI program voluntarily closed down Thursday when federal officials cut funding for Medicare patients after finding that more than 30 people died while awaiting liver transplants in the past two years.
The hospital has not had a resident liver transplant surgeon since June 2003; its two surgeons were instead based in San Diego, some 90 miles away.
Elodie Irvine, a former UCI patient who filed a lawsuit after waiting four years for a liver and kidney transplant, said Friday she was relieved her friends may finally get help.
Irvine's lawsuit - and undisclosed settlement - triggered the federal investigation of the UCI program.
The medical center planned to put together a committee of experts to evaluate the program, according to its chief executive officer, Dr. Ralph Cygan.
UCI's acceptance rate was about 4 percent, while other centers had rates between 9 percent and 13 percent, according to OneLegacy.
"If you are, perhaps, wanting to mask the fact that you don't have a surgeon available, it's certainly a handy answer," Mone said.
In the mid-1990s, fertility doctors stole patients' eggs and implanted them in infertile women who in some instances gave birth.
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