Yet another hospital has been caught in the ongoing transplant program scandal. This time it's San Diego, CA-based Sharp Memorial Hospital that's feeling the wrath of regulators. The hospital has been put on probation because it continued to add patients to its pancreas transplant program, despite the fact that a pancreas transplant hadn't been performed at Sharp for over a year. A hospital spokesperson said that Sharp had to stop performing transplants because its pancreas transplant surgeon had been called to active military duty. The hospital hired a new surgeon who performed a transplant in July, but the spokesperson admits that at one point, Sharp had to turn away a donated organ because there wasn't a surgeon on staff that could perform the procedure. Sharp Memorial joins L.A.'s St. Vincent Medical Center and Orange, CA's UCI Medical center on the United Network for Organ Sharing's (UNOS) probation list. UNOS warns that at least one more transplant program could make the list before the year is out.
For more on Sharp's troubles:
- read this Los Angeles Times report