Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Entitlement to Life

St. Vincent Medical Center, one of the largest organ transplantation centers in the state (ed. note: California), has suspended its liver program after discovering that its doctors improperly arranged for a transplant to a Saudi national using an organ that should have gone to a much higher priority patient at another hospital, officials said.

Hospital staff members then falsified documents several times to cover up the alleged maneuver, pretending that the transplant was for a patient who was near the top of the regional waiting list, hospital President and Chief Executive Gus Valdespino confirmed Monday.

The transplant took place in September 2003 and was paid for by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. But Valdespino said the problem was discovered only this month when officials were responding to routine questions from auditors at the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit group that administers the national transplant system.
Y'know, I sort of picture this bouncer behind a red velvet rope, and all these sick folks in wheelchairs...

"No, not you...no, you're too sick...nope, wrong hospi--Ah, Mr bin Bush! How good to see you! Welcome in!"