Saudi Embassy paid to jump patient up on transplant list...

[BVS]

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A top US organ transplant hospital said it had suspended its liver program amid claims doctors helped a Saudi jump the queue and take an organ intended for a higher priority patient.

St. Vincent's Medical Center in Los Angeles said its liver transplantation program had been put on "temporary inactive status" and that its two directors had been sacked in connection with a September 2003 operation in which doctors apparently falsified documents to cover up the improper action.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050927/ts_alt_afp/ussaudihospital_050927184801

 

[deep]

money talks


i believe i was born in that hospital in 1955

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I've always believed there's all kinds of corruption involved w/ organ donation.

I want to donate my organs and I want people to get them in a completely ethical manner and for the right reasons. But obviously given this situation and who knows what others, an individual has no control over that.

 

[nbcrusader]

Enough money to the right mid-level manager, and you can get what you want.

 

[karls77]

This kind of stuff really fucks me off, esp as my wife is waiting for a kidney transplant! I'm not sure how things are here in the UK but I'm not surprised to hear about this happening in the US. THis is unfortunate as it makes people think twice about donating.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

all of this is on the news , cause poor kid is saudi

 

[verte76]

This is terrible. It's really disturbing to see corruption in medical practices.

 

[nbcrusader]

This type of thing happens everywhere. It only made the news because of the "rich Saudi" connection.

 

[melon]

What can you say? The wealthy are exempt from all laws and rules in life.

Melon

 

[nbcrusader]

Money and lack on intergrity.

Sometimes the latter helps you get the former.

 

[anitram]

Why is anybody surprised?

The ultra-rich get better care than the rest of us all the time.

Do you think the Edge's daughter sat in an overcrowded ER or that Angelina Jolie's daughter went to a walk in clinic to get rehydrated?

Money talks all the time.

 

[BonosSaint]

I think where people get pissed is the intent of the donor or the donor's family. I'm listed as an organ donor, with the implied understanding that the neediest (from a life or death perspective) person on that list who is compatible with my organs gets them. If the richest or most powerful person is going to get them anyway, my family might as well sell them.

Too bad, we can't (or maybe we can) devise legal paperwork that would make my organ donation intent very specific and would nullify any donation that did not meet that criteria. But I guess they'd hide it anyway.

I believe very strongly in the principle of the nonprofit to the donor of organ donation. But the intent of that was to make the organs available to the most desperate, not the richest. Make the system work or pay the donor or family. I prefer they make the system work, but I don't know if they really can. I so hate this shit and they wonder why people get cynical.

 

[nbcrusader]

Medicine is business. Even the Red Cross, who will call you at home on a Sunday evening for a blood donation, sells[ donated blood to hospitals. May be it is the most efficient way to distribute needed items. But I think we are fooling ourselves if we think that our donations go directly to the neediest (from a life or death perspective) person.