Two Kansas City area hospitals joined 12 other transplant centers this week in a lawsuit over a new liver allocation policy that they say will result in hundreds of liver transplant candidates needlessly dying.
The University of Kansas Hospital and Saint Lukes Hospital of Kansas City are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in Atlanta against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the private organization that contracts with the government to manage the nations organ transplant system.
The new policy, set to take effect at the end of April, changes the regional system for allocating livers to one that gives priority to the sickest patients.
That has hospitals such as KU and Saint Lukes upset because their region has a higher rate of donor registration than others.
Supporters of the policy change say that its meant to reduce geographic disparities in organ distribution. The notion is that where a patient lives or chooses to list for a transplant should not be a factor in organ allocation.
More than 13,000 people in the United States are awaiting liver transplants and only 7,000 livers are currently available, according to the lawsuit. Another 11,000 people are added to the liver waitlist every year.
The lawsuit filed Monday contends that the new policy will result in at least 20% fewer liver transplants being performed in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged regions in the country, which are served in part by Transplant Center Plaintiffs liver transplant programs.
Based on the governments own data, Transplant Center Plaintiffs will perform 256 fewer transplants per year leaving 256 candidates at risk of imminent death absent the transplant they would have otherwise received, the lawsuit states.
Calling the new policy the product of an opaque, reckless process that failed to allow for full public comment and transparent discussion, the plaintiffs say theyre not seeking preferential treatment. Rather, they say theyre asking HHS and UNOS to develop a policy that complies with the law.
The lawsuit alleges that HHS unlawfully abdicated its responsibility to determine the nations liver allocation policy by deferring decision-making to UNOS.
Ann Paschke, a spokeswoman for UNOS, said in a statement that the organization would review the complaint, but believes that we have developed a sound policy that provides a fairer, more equitable system for all liver patients no matter where they live as they wait for a lifesaving transplant.
The reality is that, on average, three people die every day in the U.S. while waiting for a liver transplant, and because this new policy will save more lives by reducing the number of patients who die while waiting, we believe it is an improved policy and a step in the right direction, Paschke said.
This new policy is projected to reduce waitlist mortality by roughly 100 fewer deaths each year, will allow more children to receive life-saving transplants, and will correct an inequity that emerged over time within the old policy that led to unfair advantages and disadvantages based on where liver transplant recipients live.
Besides KU and Saint Lukes, the plaintiffs include Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which jointly operate a transplant program in St. Louis that has performed more than 2,100 liver transplants since 1985. Other plaintiffs include hospitals in Atlanta, Detroit, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia.
Four individuals awaiting transplants are also plaintiffs.
