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2005-09-28 Home Front: Tech

Liver transplants halted at US hospital amid claims Saudi paid to jump queue

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Posted by Vladdy 2005-09-28 09:09|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Cash payment above and beyond the usual reimbursement rates combined with the possibility of mutliple bonus perks and payments for good work can warp and pervert the weak quite easily.

Posted by MunkarKat 2005-09-28 10:00|| 2005-09-28 10:00|| Front Page Top

#2 I will also note: it is *very* difficult to say "no" to the Saudis, especially if there is Embassy pressure. Very very difficult.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-09-28 10:44|| 2005-09-28 10:44|| Front Page Top

#3 Why not just remove the errant organ and place it into the wait listed recipient? ;)

Posted by DanNY 2005-09-28 11:20|| 2005-09-28 11:20|| Front Page Top

#4 ...and make the Saudi's pay for it.

Posted by tu3031 2005-09-28 11:21|| 2005-09-28 11:21|| Front Page Top

#5 According to NPR yesterday, the Saudi patient went back home subsequent to the surgery; the misbehaviour was discovered during a regular internal hospital audit, and they reported themselves to the Transplant Network; nobody has any idea what happened to the patient who was supposed to get that organ; and all the patients on the hospital's waiting list have to start over now that the hospital is no longer doing transplants -- there is no mechanism for slipping them into another hospital's queue.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-09-28 14:00|| 2005-09-28 14:00|| Front Page Top

#6 A patient at UCLA Medical Center was entitled to receive the organ [St. Vincent "saudi organ"], Valdespino said.
link

LA Times

Recieved donor liver UCSF 2 years ago. Wasn't on any list except, immediate death list. [which sometimes a qualifies a patient after exhaustive review by transwplant team & program; blood type, tissue type etc.]. Wouldn't be here at the keyboard without it. Prayers, good insurance and luck.

Most transplant patients [living donor or cadaver donor] I see, recover amazingly fast, eating and walking within a few days after transplant.

The expierence is remarkable, drawn by an ultimate need, you met and bond with all sorts of folks from all walks of life.

kidney side note, while getting dialysis one day [I no longer need it, free at last], I met transplant kidney patient [immigrant from India who worked at the service] who bought a kidney and instalation of that kidney, in India, for 10,000 US. + ticket.

A cornucopia of moral and ethical issues..abounding. ;)

Posted by Shomolet Hupoluth3454 2005-09-28 14:06|| 2005-09-28 14:06|| Front Page Top

#7 Emily: we did. We had a wing in the hospital renovated a couple decades back for visiting ME princelings and their darlings. We've had a couple Kuwaitis (including the one we discussed at a, um, Rantburg editorial meeting, yeah, that's it), but no more. They're way too much trouble even though the money is sweet. Your staff ends up really demoralized because of the behavior of the entourage. The wing now houses a clinical research group, and we no longer go after these patients.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2005-09-28 17:59|| 2005-09-28 17:59|| Front Page Top

#8 That was an *editorial* meeting???? ;-)

Kudos to the decision makers at your hospital. It's hard to turn away the ready cash. Even harder to respect yourself in the morning.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2005-09-28 19:35|| 2005-09-28 19:35|| Front Page Top

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