A national regulator has discovered problems in four more transplant centers in California, including three at university teaching hospitals, according to today’s Los Angeles Times.
The United Network for Organ Sharing had already disciplined three other California centers this year. In all, more than one-quarter of the state’s transplant centers have been scrutinized or penalized by the regulator this year. It has not publicly disciplined programs in any other state, according to the article.
The four hospitals it found fault with most recently are: Kaiser Permanente, in San Francisco; the University of California at San Diego Medical Center; the University of Southern California University Hospital; and the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center. Some of the violations, which were outlined in confidential reports obtained by the Times, directly affected patient care, while others involved inconsistent record-keeping.
The organ-sharing network took the rare step this year of putting the University of California at Irvine’s transplant program on probation.
