Ensuring safety of transplant patients

Re “Transplant monitor lax in oversight,” Oct. 22

I want to assure readers, particularly those on a transplant waiting list, of the vigilance that the United Network for Organ Sharing takes to ensure the safety of patients awaiting transplantation.

Most transplant programs perform well and comply with the rules that govern transplantation. When the United Network identifies a program that has not complied with those rules or has lower-than-expected outcomes, we cannot simply “act first, ask later.”

Actions taken against a transplant program that may threaten its operation could jeopardize patients on the waiting list. Our overriding ethical challenge has been how to balance patient safety and access to transplantation with disciplinary actions that jeopardize the program’s activity.

Unless we identify an imminent danger to patients at a program under scrutiny, we correct the problem rather than force its closure. The transplant community is dismayed when the egregious behaviors of some programs are exposed.

The United Network remains steadfast in its resolve to ensure protection of this most vulnerable population.

SUE MCDIARMID MD

Director, Pediatric Liver Transplantation

David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

The writer is president of the United Network for Organ Sharing and the Organ Procurement Transplant Network.