their moral worth is irrelevant... their alien status is what counts. NO American should die because an alien got their xplant.
Posted on 05/30/2008 5:06:44 AM PDT by decimon
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles hospital provided liver transplants to four Japanese gang figures, including one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses, over a period when several hundred area patients died while awaiting transplants, according to a published report.
The surgeries were performed at UCLA Medical Center by world-renowned liver surgeon Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil, executive chairman of UCLA's surgery department, the Los Angeles Times reported in a story posted on its Web site Thursday night. The Times cited a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The surgeries were performed between 2000 and 2004, and in each of those years more than 100 patients died awaiting liver transplants in the greater Los Angeles region, according to the Times.
There is no indication UCLA or Busuttil knew any of the patients had ties to Japanese gangs, known as yakuza, the Times reported. The school and Busuttil said in statements they don't make moral judgments about patients, but treat them according to medical need.
U.S. transplant rules do not prohibit hospitals from performing transplants on foreign patients or those with criminal histories.
Tadamasa Goto, who had been barred from entering the United States because of his criminal history, was the most prominent transplant recipient. He leads a gang called the Goto-gumi, according to the Times.
With help from the FBI, Goto obtained a visa to enter America in 2001 in exchange for leads on potentially illegal activity in this country by Japanese criminal gangs, Jim Stern, retired chief of the FBI's Asian criminal enterprise unit in Washington, told the Times. The FBI did not help Goto arrange his surgery with UCLA.
The FBI didn't get much out of Goto, Stern said.
"I don't think Goto gave the bureau anything of significance," Stern said. Goto "came to the States and got a liver and was laughing back to where he came from. ... It defies logic."
Stern said he was not involved with the deal, and learned of it when he became unit chief in 2004. He said he continues to be troubled by it.
After the transplant, Goto was again barred from re-entering the U.S., the Times said, citing a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and requested anonymity.
Busuttil performed liver transplants at UCLA on three other men now barred from entering the U.S. because of their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized crime groups, the Times said, citing a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Times said it was not naming those three transplant recipients because neither they nor their lawyers could be reached.
Goto underwent a successful transplant in July 2001. He received the liver of a young man who died in a traffic accident, said Goto's Tokyo-based lawyer, Yoshiyuki Maki.
"Goto is over 60 now, but his liver is young," Maki said.
Goto continued to receive medical care from Busuttil in Japan. Busuttil traveled there and examined Goto more than once, Maki said. Busuttil also evaluated Goto while he was in custody in 2006, Maki said.
In May 2006, Goto was arrested in Japan on suspicion of real estate fraud. He was acquitted of the charges in March of this year.
It is unclear when Goto joined UCLA's waiting list, but he had been in the U.S. two months when he received a new liver, the Times reported. Overall, 34 percent of the patients added to UCLA's liver waiting list between January 1999 and December 2001 received a new liver within three years of being listed, the Times reported, citing national transplant statistics.
In a statement, the UCLA Health System said privacy laws prevented it from commenting on specific cases.
Busuttil, a former president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons who has testified before Congress on who should receive priority for transplants, released a statement this week.
"As a surgeon, it is not my role to pass moral judgment on the patients who seek my care," read the statement, which didn't directly address the Japanese patients. "If one of my patients, domestic or international, were in a situation that could be life-threatening, of course I would do everything in my power to assure that they would receive proper care."
It could not be determined how much UCLA and Busuttil were paid for the Japanese transplants, the Times reported.
It’s not the doctor’s job to make a decision on how to treat a patient based on his moral worth. It would be a gross violation of the hippocratic oath to do so...
This is why I won’t sign a transplant form unless I have veto power over the recipient.
In Pittsburgh, the transplant team broke their own rules to give a liver to a homosexual activist with AIDS. The man made himself famous for breaking into Mass at St. Patrick’s and throwing condoms on the parishioners. By rule, livers aren’t supposed to go to people with terminal illnesses or over a certain age. He was both.
Physicians don’t take the Hippocratic Oath anymore.
Based on this article, Dr. Busittil did indeed make decisions based on some sort of worth. What the blank the FBI was doing is up in the air.
“As a surgeon, it is not my role to pass moral judgment on the patients who seek my care,” read the statement, which didn’t directly address the Japanese patients.””
I didn’t see anywhere where he did. The only inference I got was that he would have prioritised patients according to clinical needs, not on their moral superiority...
their moral worth is irrelevant... their alien status is what counts. NO American should die because an alien got their xplant.
I don’t believe the hippocratic oath takes into account the nationality of the patient either.
I am reminded of a fuss that was kicked up many years ago when a American Billionaire came to Britain and got a heart transplant on the NHS, which was even worse, because his treatment was funded by British taxpayers, whereas this gang boss at least payed for his treatment under the american system.....
this has NOTHING to do with any oath and theres a BIG difference btween treating an Emergency/Acute Case(what the oath was for), and a PLANNED future operation without FIRST checking to see if theres an AMERICAN ALREADY ON THE LIST!!!
Are american taxpayers paying for the operation?
As I said, I any decision on medical treatment should be made purely on medical need, not on the nationality of the patient or whether they are a criminal or any other reason.....
As I said, I any decision on medical treatment should be made purely on medical need, not on the nationality of the patient or whether they are a criminal or any other reason.....
it has nothing to do with money... it is about INTENTIONALLY letting an AMERICAN DIE in favor of an alien. what is so hard to understand about that???
A Los Angeles hospital provided liver transplants to four Japanese gang figures, including one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses, over a period when several hundred area patients died while awaiting transplants, according to a published report.
and then if you read this sentence -
Tadamasa Goto, who had been barred from entering the United States because of his criminal history, was the most prominent transplant recipient.
and then if you thought to yourself, how in the world could Mr. Goto have jumped to the front of the line if he had previously been barred from entering the United States?
Well, I admit, that is a bit iffy, but it’s not the doctor’s problem, it’s the US authority’s problem for letting in a notorious criminal. The physicians themeselves were bound to treat him according to his clinical needs and not any other criteria....
First, UCLA's own site says that the waiting list for liver transplants is over 9,000 people long and further that the only way you can get a liver transplant is to be on that list. Did UCLA check that list before performing the transplant on this Japanese gangster?
Second, UCLA is supposed to look for the best available match. Was that procedure followed in transplanting an American liver into a Japanese gangster's body?
Third, a few years back St. Vincent's hospital had their liver transplant program suspended after it was found that they had jumped a Saudi national to the front of the line in return for a hefty payment from the Saudi gov't. Did anything like that happen here?
ping to 15
I have a final question for you. This article raises obvious questions about the propriety of the liver transplant that was performed on the Japanese gangster. And yet your first reaction on reading this story is to defend the doctor. Why is that — do you happen to be a Saudi national. or a Japanese gangster?
Nope. I knew however, that the doctor was about to be subjected to a populist rant about treating a foreign criminal when honest americans were dying by the score. I am simply pointing out that it is not the doctor’s role to make decisions based on any other criteria other than clinical need.
If doctors are allowed to let their personal feelings trump those of his duty to his patient, you are treading a very dark path, and I suspect not many would like where that led...
are you an American?
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