Mount Sinai Delivers "Plan of Correction" for Transplant Unit to State

"I think, unfortunately, it sometimes takes a tragedy to force people to review and to look at things and make changes that may have been overdue," said Dr. Myron Schwartz, the director of the adult liver transplant unit at Mount Sinai. "We all have to acknowledge that the transplant program here had gotten to be an extremely large, busy unit. And not all aspects of how we functioned kept up with the growth. I think we had to step back and reassess."

Mount Sinai told the health department it had already made some changes to improve patient care, including upgrading the method used to chart patients' progress and adding a second physician assistant to the transplant ward. It said it planned to hire more physician assistants.

Dr. Gary Rosenberg, Mount Sinai's senior vice president, said the hospital was working as fast as possible to implement the changes outlined in the plan of correction.

"There is already a tangible difference in the feeling on the floor," he said.

Mount Sinai officials expressed hope that as a result of the changes in staffing and patient supervision, the state would shorten the six-month ban on living-donor liver transplants that was imposed on March 12th.

"Mount Sinai is hoping the ban will be lifted early," hospital spokeswoman Joan Lebow said. "There are many patients who need and want these transplants." She said about 25 people were waiting for transplants at Mount Sinai using livers from relatives or friends.

But John Signor, a spokesperson for the New York Health Department, indicated that the ban would not end before the full six months had passed. "It won't be any earlier," he said.