liver transplant program at St. Vincent federal report

The liver transplant program at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles was plagued by a climate of "fear and retribution" that prevented staffers from revealing the program's serious inadequacies, according to a federal report cited by the Los Angeles Times.

The 99-page report by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that the hospital did not comply with eight conditions required by hospitals receiving federal funding, the newspaper said. Based on hospital records, there was no proof that some patients received a physical examination or, in some cases, were even reviewed by a selection committee before being added to the transplant list, the Times reported.

St. Vincent closed its liver transplant program following its admission in September that its doctors had improperly arranged for a September 2003 transplant to a Saudi man using an organ that was supposed to have gone to a person who was higher on the hospital's priority list.
The transplant was not revealed until two years later when the hospital was responding to a routine audit, the newspaper said.

The hospital acknowledged that a number of staff members knew about the incident but "participated in [an alleged] coverup," the Times reported.

Inspectors cited several instances "in which transplant staff members said they were asked to falsify documents," the Times reported.
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