New nine lawsuits filed in UC Irvine liver transplant case
By: North County Times wire services | ∞
SANTA ANA - Nine new lawsuits were filed Friday on behalf of people who died while awaiting liver transplants on a now-closed program at UCI Medical Center, or claim they were given false hope for help that never came.
The new batch of litigation was filed in Orange County Superior Court by Santa Monica lawyers Browne Greene, Christine D. Spangnoli and Mark T. Quigley.
Already pending in the court are suits filed by attorney Lawrence Eisenberg in connection with 17 others, of which a dozen involve wrongful deaths.
The lawsuit filed by Eisenberg on behalf of Audrey Degenhardt and other family members stemming from the death of Geoffrey Degenhardt is now in the hands of the Santa Monica firm, said Kathy Pinckert, a spokeswoman for the firm.
She declined to comment on the switch in firms.
"She just changed counsel," Pinckert said. "We now represent her."
According to a federal report, 32 UCI patients died awaiting transplants in the last two years, even as the Orange-based hospital turned away scores of organs because of alleged inadequate staffing, poor survival rates and other mismanagement.
The program closed Nov. 10 when UCI was advised Medicare would no longer reimburse it for liver transplants.
The University of California Board of Regents has launched its own investigation. Until its completion, the hospital's chief executive, Dr. Ralph Cygan, is on administrative leave.
A main contention is that the program was without a full-time surgeon since July 2004. Once report said that at least three livers were turned down because there was no surgeon available. Hospital representative have said that organs are turned down for various reasons such as the wrong size, weight or quality.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said that personnel conscientiously tried to improve the program and implement recommendations, including actively working to recruit a surgeon.
In addition to Geoffrey Degenhardt, the wrongful death lawsuits were filed in connection with the deaths of Claudia Arms, Don Hambarian, Paul Henderson and Donald Wade.
Those claiming personal injury are Barry Johnson, Chris Millington, Yolanda Sanchez and Diane Tovar.
Quigley said the newest plaintiffs had "faith and trust in UCI's Division of Transplantation which assured (the patients) that they were eligible for a transplant, and that such a transplant would be performed within a reasonable period of time."
"In reliance upon UCI's misrepresentations about its transplant program, five good people waited and ultimately died because they were never told the truth and were never given the opportunity to seek medical treatment elsewhere," Quigley said.
"Four other individuals have survived, but now all suffer from serious health consequences because they, too, were kept waiting in the dark about the realities of UCI's transplant program," Quigley said.
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Rollie wrote on Jan 7, 2006 1:04 PM:Well, this problem with the liver transplant program at UCI Medical Center rings of the same corporate greed for money, with the bottom line being money and where this is no other bottom line. However, here the corporate world (The Director and other administrators at thisa medical center are dealing with people's lives directly. I seem to recall an oath that medical doctors abide by, and letting people died when there is more money to be made with more expensive surgeries (than liver transplants) isn't in agreement with the oath. We are faced with a giant of a major problem!
Sandy wrote on Jan 7, 2006 7:37 PM:$50,000 isn't much money... especially if we consider how much money that UCI collected from these patients. The "evaluation" to get on their waiting list would have cost (many) thousands of dollars... then all the visits to the center during the long wait (many more thousands of dollars). ALL OF THAT should be refunded. These people didn't 'just' give false hope. They didn't 'just' let people die while lying to them. They also charged alot of money while letting them die.
Frank wrote on Jan 8, 2006 8:23 AM:Why was only the CEO put on administrative leave? What about the Medical Director the Dean and all the other executives involved? Why is the UC system being allowed to examine itself? Shouldn't the investigation be performed by representatives of another university? I agree with Sandy that 50,000 dollars is nothing compared to the purported greed of the hospital administrators. Punitive damages from purported conspiratorial acts and fraud should be considered by the judicial system
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