Statement on UCLA’s organ transplantation program

CBS's "60 Minutes" ran a story Sunday, Nov. 1, on the Japanese Yakuza that included numerous inaccuracies relating to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and organ transplants in general. Unfortunately, the program failed to air the complete statement provided by UCLA, which directly refuted a number of the segment's allegations. The U.S. organ allocation system is completely transparent. In 2008, both federal legislative investigators and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigative staff conducted in-depth reviews and found that UCLA's liver transplant patients had received the right organ at the right time. No money or donation was offered or paid to anyone at UCLA as a quid pro quo for getting a transplant or moving up on the list. An individual's place on the transplant list is determined by a complex, federally mandated formula.