Hospitals accused of skewing liver transplant priority list

Three Chicago hospitals were accused by the federal government on Monday of diagnosing some patients as more ill than they were as a way to hasten their liver transplants.

One patient at the University of Illinois Medical Center who was certified as seven days from death was discovered in a hospital lobby wearing a clown costume and putting on a show to support a blood drive, officials said.

Some patients were unnecessarily placed in intensive care and were diagnosed as far sicker than they were, officials said.

"By falsely diagnosing patients and placing them in intensive care to make them appear more sick than they were, these three highly regarded medical centers made patients eligible for liver transplants ahead of others," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said.

Named were the University of Chicago Hospitals, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

The case stems from a whistleblower suit filed in 1999 by a surgeon who said the University of Illinois Medical Center demoted him and cut his pay after he complained. The suit was unsealed for the first time Monday.

The other institutions were eventually added to the suit, and the federal government joined in the action. The state attorney general's office also joined the suit, but targeted only University of Chicago Hospitals and the University of Illinois Medical Center.

The University of Chicago and Northwestern have agreed to settle, while not admitting wrongdoing. The state and federal governments have asked a federal court to force the University of Illinois Medical Center, which has not settled, to pay $3 million in damages.

Its spokesman, Mark Rosati, said that "our physicians acted at all times with the utmost concern for the welfare of patients very ill with liver disease." He said settlement talks are continuing.

Officials said there was no evidence that anyone died for lack of a transplant, but available livers are in short supply, and only the most seriously ill patients are eligible.

Under terms of their settlements, the University of Chicago will pay $115,000 and Northwestern Memorial $23,587.

A spokesman for the University of Chicago Hospitals, John Easton, said that "contrary to the government's allegations, the hospitals believe that all decisions about patient care were completely justified."

A Northwestern hospital spokeswoman, Kelly Sullivan, said it agreed with the need to investigate the allegations. But she added: "We strongly disagree with the government's position regarding those charges, including any suggestion that intensive care unit coverage of two critically ill patients, comatose and suffering from liver failure, was unnecessary."

Content provided by ArmMed MediaRevision date: 12 December 2007Last revised by Amalia K. Gagarina, M.S., R.D.