The hospital is also in trouble for not alerting patients to the status of the pancreas transplant program.
The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) runs the United States transplant system. UNOS performed a peer review of the hospital during which it found periods of more than six months during which no transplants were performed. In fact, only one pancreas was transplanted last year, despite there being 12 people on the waiting list. Similar pancreas transplant programs performed up to eight operations during the same period.
Although the hospital had not performed a pancreas transplant in over a year, it was still adding patients to the waiting list. Patients on the waiting list had not even been informed that the pancreas transplant program had been mainly inactive for most of the past two years.
UNOS records show that before July of 2006, the last pancreas transplant occurred in April of 2005. Sharp failed to notify UNOS of the periods of inactivity.
Two patients who were waiting pancreas transplants at the hospital died before the transplants were performed. The first death occurred in 2005 and the second in 2006. Additionally, the hospital turned down at least one pancreas because there was no surgeon available to perform the transplant.
UNOS had asked the hospital to voluntarily shut down its transplant program until it could be properly run, however the hospital refused to do so. UNOS then decided the best course of action was to put the hospital on probation. The hospital will still be allowed to perform pancreas transplants and receive organs while it is on probation. However, all of the hospital's transplant programs are on probation. In addition to probation, Sharp is required to let all patients awaiting pancreas transplants that there is only one doctor serving the pancreas transplant program.
A spokesperson for the hospital said that the pancreas transplant program was inactive because the surgeon was called for military duty. He then said that a new surgeon had been recruited in July.
Sharp Memorial Hospital is the third transplant center to be publicly sanctioned by UNOS. The organization requires pancreas transplant programs to perform at least one surgery every six months in order to remain active.
Sharp was previously in trouble in 2003 for submitting millions of dollars in false claims to Medicare. The hospital allegedly sent bills for employee salaries and laboratory costs that were not involved in acquiring organs.