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

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2005

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.

"This event appears to involve an individual who received a liver that was designated for transplantation to another patient," the hospital's chief executive, Gus Valdespino, said in a statement.

"Any breach of integrity regarding established transplantation...