Levy pans joint liver transplant program
Paul Levy has harsh words for the new joint program for liver transplantation between Lahey Clinic and UMass Memorial Medical Center. Both transplant centers will continue to function independently, with surgeons operating in Burlington and Worcester, undermining the promise of collaboration, he writes in his blog today.
"I cannot imagine how asking Lahey doctors to commute to Worcester for a relatively small liver transplantation program will be a good use of their time or will optimize patient care and control costs overall," Levy says. He is president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which has its own liver transplant program.
Levy welcomed word that Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center on the New Hampshire-Vermont border may be canceling plans for its own liver transplantation program because there would be too few patients.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock denied that suggestion.
"DHMC will not be expanding its solid organ transplant program to include liver transplants at this time, but no final decisions have been made," hospital spokesman Jason E. Aldous said.
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Elizabeth Cooney covers health for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. She
previously reported on business and was an editor at the paper. Earlier in
her career, she edited medical books and journals at Little, Brown, and
worked for Boston magazine.Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
- Karen Weintraub, Deputy Health and Science Editor
- Gideon Gil, Health and Science Editor
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