A Comprehensive Analysis of Litigation in Organ Transplantation for Allegations of Insufficient Policy Coverage, Discrimination and Malpractice.

Introduction: Transplantation is a field with unique medical and administrative challenges that involve an equally diverse array of stakeholders. Expectantly, the litigation stemming from this field should be similarly nuanced. There is a paucity of comprehensive reviews characterizing this medicolegal landscape. Design: The Caselaw Access Project Database was used to collect official court briefs of 2053 lawsuits related to kidney, liver, heart, lung, and pancreas transplantation. A thematic analysis was undertaken to characterize grounds for litigation, defendant type, and outcomes. Cases were grouped into policy, discrimination, poor or unsuccessful outcome, or other categories. Results: One hundred sixty-four court cases were included for analysis. Cases involving disputes over policy coverage were the most common across all organ types (N = 55, 33.5%). This was followed by poor outcomes (N = 51, 31.1%), allegations of discrimination against prison systems and employers (N = 37, 22.6%) and other (N = 21, 12.8%). Defendants involved in discrimination trials won with the greatest frequency (N = 29, 90.62%). Defendants implicated in policy suits won 65.3% (N = 32), poor outcomes 62.2% (N = 28), and other 70% (N = 14). Of the 51 cases involving poor outcomes, plaintiffs indicated lack of informed consent in 23 (45.1%). Conclusion: Reconsidering the informed consent process may be a viable means of mitigating future legal action. Most discrimination suits favoring defendants suggested previous concerns of structural injustices in transplantation may not be founded. The prevalence of policy-related cases could be an indication of financial burden on patients. Future work and advocacy will need to substantiate these concerns and address change where legal recourse falls short.

Unintentional Injury Death Among Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: Trends and Risk Factors.

Unintentional injury death (UID) is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, and individuals with chronic diseases are at higher risk. Though organ transplant can improve the lives of those with chronic disease, these individuals remain in suboptimal physical and mental health after surgery that predisposes them to UID. To quantify the scale of UID among solid organ transplant recipients, we performed a retrospective analysis using United Network of Organ Sharing data from adults who underwent kidney, liver or pancreas transplant between 2000-2021. Our study aimed to identify risk factors for UID in this cohort by comparing basic patient, donor, and transplant characteristics of the groups (UID or all other cause death). The largest proportion of UID was seen in the kidney group (.8%), followed by liver (.7%) and then pancreas (.3%). Male sex was the most significant risk factor among kidney and liver recipients. Whites had a higher risk for UID relative to their non-White counterparts in the kidney and liver groups. In both groups, advancing age conferred a protective effect, whereas higher functional status was a risk factor. Our findings shed new light on a significant source of mortality within the transplant population.

Preoperative and Intraoperative Urine Cultures and Its Association With Postoperative Infection After Ureteroneocystostomy.

OBJECTIVE: To unveil this association, we hypothesize that preoperative and intraoperative urinary tract infection (UTI) will be correlated with postoperative UTI and sepsis occurrence. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The 2020 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Pediatric (NSQIP-P) data was analyzed for patients undergoing ureteroneocystostomy (UNC) for vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Patients that underwent UNC for treatment of VUR with urine culture obtained within 2weeks preoperatively or on the day of surgery were identified. The patients were divided into 3 groups: no bacterial growth, bacterial growth with UTI, and bacterial growth polymicrobial growth. Patient demographics and preoperative variables were evaluated. RESULTS: The postoperative urinary tract infection rate of the three groups were 2.0%, 9.2%, and 9.9% for group A, B, C, respectively (P < .001). Postoperative sepsis was noted to be 0.5%, 1.3%, and 3.6% for group A, B, C (P < .01). Additionally, there was a difference between mean operative time (P < .001), mean length of stay (P = .03), and mean days from operation to discharge (P < .01). On adjusted analysis, both groups B and C had higher rates of UTI compared to group A. Group C was also seen to have greater rates of sepsis on adjusted analysis. CONCLUSION: The association found between preoperative UTI with less than 2 species of microorganisms (group B) and postoperative UTI indicates that UTI treatment and antibiotic prophylaxis should be considered when undergoing UNC for VUR. The results of this study may lead to more careful consideration of the use of preoperative and intraoperative urine culture as well as treatment of UTI in pediatric patients with VUR undergoing UNC.

Suicide amongst transplant recipients: Trends and unique risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: There are higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation among those with chronic diseases, including end-stage renal disease, diabetes mellitus and liver disease. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death worldwide and is more prevalent among transplant recipients. Although transplantation has the potential to improve quality of life, many transplant recipients commit suicide each year. The extent to which sex, race, age, type of insurance coverage, time on waitlist, comorbidities, immunosuppressive regimen and graft loss contribute to suicide risk in this population remains understudied. METHODS: We queried UNOS data collected between 1990 and 2019 to determine what risk factors contribute to suicide in the transplant population. Suicide mortality rate was calculated by determining the fraction of organ recipients who died by suicide since 1990 and was expressed as deaths per 100 000. Two groups (suicide and all other cause mortality) were compared via univariate and multivariate statistical analysis. Time to graft loss was estimated using a Kaplan Meier Product Limit method. A propensity score analysis was performed to match patients who committed suicide to those who did not, allowing us to balance the relatively small sample of size of the suicide cohort with the larger all other cause mortality group to minimize the effect of confounding variables. We estimated years of organ life lost using the restricted mean. Statistical significance was defined by p < .05. RESULTS: The data included 135 432 transplant deaths in total; the majority were kidney recipients-82 305 (61%). We determined suicide rates of .28%, .31%, and .44% for kidney, liver and pancreas, respectively, with an overall rate of .3%. Across all three organs the most significant risk factor was male sex. Non-Hispanic whites were also at elevated risk (OR = 2.16, p < .003). In the liver and kidney transplant groups, the odds of committing suicide were reduced by 4% with advancing age. The odds of taking one's own life was inversely related to BMI in the kidney and pancreas groups. We observed a doubling of suicide rates from .3% in 2014 to .6% in 2018. There were no other statistically significant correlations. CONCLUSION: Suicide is more prevalent among transplant recipients than in the general population. White males in particular are most at risk. The highest rate of suicide was in pancreas recipients. Advancing age and increasing BMI conferred some protective effect. There were no significant associations between suicide incidence and glucocorticoid use, type of insurance coverage, time on waitlist or graft loss. The phenomenon has become more prevalent in recent years.