Transplant surgeons call Arizona’s data ‘flawed and outdated’
By Zachary Roth

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We've told you about the outrage in Arizona over the state's decision to stop paying for certain crucial medical transplants. Several Arizonans already have died after health officials notified them that they no longer qualified for Medicaid and other state funding for life-saving procedures.

Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer's administration has often insisted that the cuts -- made amid huge budget shortfalls -- concern procedures that are experimental and have little chance of success. But now a major medical specialty group says the Brewer administration was using faulty data in making the cuts, which include certain kinds of pancreas, liver, heart, lung and bone-marrow transplants.

The American Society of Transplant Surgeons said in a press release Thursday that it had reviewed the evidence the state used in deciding to make the cuts, and concluded that the information is "both flawed and outdated." It added that in many cases, the state also had ignored "the recommendations of designated medical consultants."

The group goes on to list errors in the information the state relied on. One typical example: "Lung transplantation is life saving, not palliative, for the majority of patients with end stage lung disease that receive lung transplants today."

"Transplantation is not experimental -- it is accepted, beneficial care for patients with end stage organ failure," Dr. Michael Abecassis, the group's president, said in a written statement. "We cannot dictate what the Arizona lawmakers will ultimately decide, however we can unequivocally state that the cuts in transplant coverage will result in the unjustified and needless death of Arizona citizens."

(Photo of Brewer: AP/Ross D. Franklin)