Ferrari-driving former MCV liver surgeon performed unecessary transplants, says WSJ

Written by Aaron Kremer

Friday, 21 November 2008 13:41

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating story about a Ferrari-driving liver surgeon.

According to the WSJ, Amadeo Marcos, who was pressured to leave the VCU School of Medicine in 2000 after a colleague filed a sexual assault complaint, was recruited to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to boost the number of lucrative liver transplants at that hospital. It does not say anything about his professional record while at MCV, and he worked at one other hospital between his stint in Richmond and moving to Pittsburgh.

The story basically says he was doing more liver transplants than he should have in Pittsburgh, and helping the non-profit hospital reap windfall profits. The procedure costs more than $400,000.

“A shortage of transplantable organs for cadavers is a perennial constraint on the number of liver transplants,” writes John Carreyrou. “Dr. Marcos overcame this in part by using organs from so-called expanded criteria donors – deceased people who had been older or sicker than preferred living donors.”

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written by Bob Scudder, November 24, 2008

As you have not bothered to respond to my earlier email debunking your theory on the paucity of condo dwellers in downtown Richmond, I hesitate to write again. However, I must ask you:

"What do you want to be as a news provider to Greater Richmond?"

You do provide some good value for those who have little time to peruse the news so to speak. On the other hand you throw in the sensationalistic trash as in the Ferrari Driving Liver Surgeon... article. WHY?

This kind of "reporting" only diminishes your credibility and drags an otherwise good service to the business community down to the level of trashy "journalism"

If you have the courtesy to reply to my input, I'd look forward to hearing from you...

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written by aaron kremer, November 24, 2008

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your comment. Our mission is to report business news in Richmond. Part of that mission means finding stories from elsewhere that affect local businesses.

For this particular story, we chose to include all the relevant information in the headline. It was not our intention to mislead any reader. I do not believe we have made any factual errors. Please point out any if we have, and we will correct it asap.

The story we are referencing is credible and relevant to both the Richmond business community and the health care industry. It is likely of interest to people who worked with Dr. Marcos, or who were treated by him.

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