MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Federal officials have denied a Memphis transplant center's request to continue obtaining organs from both a Nashville group and a Memphis group.
The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute came under fire after performing a 2009 liver transplant for Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Critics complained Methodist had an unfair business advantage because it obtained organs from both Tennessee Donor Services and the Mid-South Transplant Foundation. They also complained that a significant proportion of Methodist's patients came from outside the mid-south.
The Commercial Appeal reported that earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ordered Methodist to get its organs from Mid-South Transplant, which draws from a less populous region than Tennessee Donor Services.
Methodist officials said the ruling would be devastating to the transplant center and its patients.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
