Watch how the pursuit of profit and volume endangered patients and drove a reputable liver transplant program into the ground.
The WSJ writes recounts the fascinating story of a surgeon hired primarily to increase the volume of surgical procedures at the University of Pittsburgh, priced at almost half a million per transplant. For those who can’t access the WSJ, go and read Jeffrey Parks’ summary.
By taking short-cuts to increase the availability of livers, patients were endangered. Some “didn’t need a transplant,” and others were “dying on the operating table or in the ICU.”
This is revenue-driven medicine at its extreme.
topics: transplant, revenue
