DENVER -- Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center's Clinical Ethics Committee met today to evaluate concerns the transplant team expressed regarding a kidney transplant that was scheduled for and postponed yesterday, Monday October 18.

P/SL's Clinical Ethics Committee, composed of physicians, clergy, a clinical ethicist and hospital staff, reviewed medical and ethical questions raised in the case of kidney recipient Bob Hickey and donor Robert Smitty. The Committee spoke with the transplant team, as well as outside ethicists and other medical and legal experts.

The Committee advised that a compassionate exception be made in this case so the surgery can proceed once the patient and donor sign an additional statement attesting that neither is profiting financially from the organ donation.

"Certainly, we know this was very difficult for Mr. Hickey and Mr. Smitty, and our first concern has always been for them," said hospital CEO Mimi Roberson. "We're pleased we were able to resolve this quickly with a compassionate exception. But it's also important to note that organ donations continue to be the topic of a broader national debate and more answers are needed."

"Every case that involves organ transplants receives scrutiny from the transplant team," Roberson said. "Since the issue of commercial donor organizations has become very real to P/SL, every case that arises in the future will receive greater scrutiny throughout the process. Furthermore, the scheduling of this compassionate exception transplant in no way should be construed as an endorsement or support of any commercial donor organization."

Igal Kam, MD, professor and chief of transplant surgery at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, will lead the transplant team. Dr. Kam established the liver and kidney transplant program at the university in 1988, after training with Dr. Tom Starzl, who performed the world's first liver transplant at University of Colorado Hospital in 1963.

"Live organ donation and transplant surgery are an important alternative to waiting on a transplant list to receive an organ," said Dr. Igal Kam, professor and chief of transplant surgery at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.

"However, new resources for connecting donors and recipients have raised ethical and legal questions nationally. As this was the first time we have been involved in such a process, it was prudent to examine these questions and the circumstances before performing the surgery. I am pleased that this particular case has been recommended to proceed though the hospital's ethics process."

HISTORY

The postponement occurred after the transplant team, led by surgeon Dr. Igal Kam, a University of Colorado Hospital physician who also performs transplants at P/SL, learned that the transplant was to be the first performed on a donor and recipient who located each other on a commercial site. Dr. Kam raised the question in a team meeting with the hospital about the source because it was unknown to him, and because it is against federal law for anyone to profit from selling an organ.

The hospital agreed to and supported the postponement in order to honor the transplant team's request for further review of the issues.

Roberson called Mr. Hickey to let him know about the decision and, pending their signed statements, the transplant is re-scheduled for Wednesday, October 20.

Dr. Kam will meet again with the patient prior to the surgery.