Albany Fined for Exaggerating Condition of Heart Transplant Patients

Albany Medical Center has been fined $18,000 after a state investigation confirmed it overstated the seriousness of the conditions of 45 heart patients to cut the time they waited for life-saving transplants.

New York State Health Department investigators said that in a review of 12 cases, they found five instances where the hospital had told the United Network for Organ Sharing -- which coordinates the distribution of organs -- that patients would die within a week.

The st ate concluded that those assessments were completely untrue, and levied the maximum fine on Albany Medical Center.

State Health Commissioner Antonia Novello said she was "especially troubled by the failure of the hospital," which allowed the heart transplant program to misrepresent the conditions of its patients.

James J. Barba, president of Albany Medical Center, pledged that the the hospital's heart transplant program -- which has been suspended since October -- would reopen by the end of this year.

The state is requiring that the hospital hire an independent consultant to review how it reports patients' conditions, among other oversight requirements, before the program will be allowed to resume.

After the heart transplant unit opened in April 2000, it quickly became one of the nation's busier heart transplant centers. The average waiting time for patients listed for a heart transplant was two months, compared with the national average of 10 months.

Other Sources:NY State Department of Health, Albany Times Union