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Liver program unfairly criticized
ANOTHER VIEW
| Wednesday, Jul 2 2008 5:07 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 2 2008 5:12 PM
As a 19-year survivor of a liver transplant, it was with great interest that I read your editorial about problems in organ transplantation. Even though improvements can and should be made in our national guidelines, clarification of part of your editorial must be made. That is the part dealing with UCLA and Dr. Ronald Busuttil. Apparently the editorial was generated by articles in the Los Angeles Times.
The articles in The Times faulted Dr. Busuttil and UCLA for transplanting the liver of Tadamasu Goto, a Japanese gangster. The articles were misleading for their lack of information about transplantation and the facts of this particular liver transplant.
They ignored national guidelines about organ transplantation and the part the FBI played in allowing a person, known by them to be a gangster, to enter the U.S. for medical treatment.
A committee of medical professionals decides if a patient is in need of a transplant, can survive the surgery, and will follow strict guidelines for medications and medical follow-ups. Only then can a person be approved for an organ transplant. The guidelines are national and UCLA did follow them, as well as the requirement to include 5 percent of foreigners for transplantation.
The FBI wanted information about illegal Japanese activity in the U.S. and promised Goto admittance into the U.S. for medical treatment in exchange for such information. He was admitted into the U.S. and subsequently evaluated by a UCLA medical team to determine his eligibility for a liver transplant. After thorough examinations by medical professionals he was approved. There is no evidence that either the committee or Dr. Busuttil knew of Goto's background.
An outcry for changes in organ transplantation was begun by the Times which erroneously targeted a world renowned transplant surgeon and one of the major successful liver transplant centers of the world. There have been more than 5,000 liver transplants at UCLA since the program's inception by Dr. Busuttil in 1984.
He has trained many surgeons during the past two decades, surgeons who have performed thousands of liver transplants in America, as well as in other parts of the world. Dr. Busuttil and UCLA have directly or indirectly given life to countless thousands of very ill people, many of whom are now leading productive lives.
These past 19 years I often remind myself how fortunate I have been to have seen my children become responsible adults and to be able to love three grandchildren and receive their love in return. I pray that misleading articles, such as those in the Los Angeles Times, don't have a negative effect on organ donation, making the present critical shortage ever more so, thereby making it impossible for more people to receive life giving organ transplants. It would be sad, indeed, if people were unnecessarily denied a wonderful life, such as the one I have had since 1989.
Raymond J. Duquette is a retired Cal State Bakersfield professor. He had a liver transplant at UCLA on June 20, 1989. His transplant was the 354th liver transplant performed by Dr. Ronald Busuttil. The editorial he is responding to noted allegations that UCLA stretched national guidelines and called for a review of these guidelines. Another View is a critical response to a Californian editorial or story.