The United Network for Organ Sharing, the national group that oversees organs shared for transplants, put the University of California at Irvine’s transplant programs on probation on Thursday because of problems with patient care and other deficiencies, The Orange County Register reported this morning. The rare move makes Irvine’s the only transplant programs in the country to be so penalized. Irvine may still receive organs from the network, but it will be subjected to much closer scrutiny.

Irvine’s problems appear unrelated to a scandal in its willed-body program, which provides cadavers for research and instruction. In 1999, the program’s director was fired after officials learned that he was selling body parts on the side, and that his records were so shoddy that some donors’ families had probably received the wrong remains. Irvine has since tightened its procedures (The Chronicle, May 21, 2004). Last year the University of California imposed stricter rules on such programs throughout the system (The Chronicle, February 4, 2005).