Liver Transplant

The Maryland Court of Appeals heard arguments yesterday on whether the state's Medicaid program should reimburse Johns Hopkins Hospital for liver transplants that the hospital performed on teen-agers who were refused preauthorization by the state. Despite those refusals, doctors at Hopkins performed the operations in 1996 on Taurus Jackson, now 18, and Jessica Nettles, who has since died. "Hopkins decided to treat first and worry about [the] payment source later," said Marta D. Harting, attorney for the hospital.

The real profit from transplants lies in lives saved Ellen Goodman's column on organ transplant allocation made me furious ("On organ transplants, it's location, location, location," Opinion Commentary, April 11). No, it is not fair that one region's wait is longer (or shorter) than another's; neither is it fair that anyone should have to wait for an organ or worse, die waiting. Ms. Goodman said that UNOS (The United Network for Organ Sharing) is "a tad too concerned with keeping the . . . profitable local transplant centers healthy."

Choking back tears at an emotional news conference, Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton announced yesterday that he is suffering from a rare disease and will need a liver transplant to survive.Payton, 44, has a disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks its own tissues and scars the bile ducts. It affects only three of 100,000 people.The most obvious symptom is that Payton has lost a lot of weight. His gaunt appearance was a shocking contrast to the well-sculptured look he had when he became the NFL's all-time leading rusher for the Chicago Bears.

WASHINGTON -- Scientific advances in medicine have made it possible for man to play God, and there is painful evidence that man isn't very good at it.Witness the heart-tugging disagreements within the United Network for Organ Sharing, the private group that decides who gets priority for receiving, say, a liver transplant.This group has long held to the policy that the inadequate number of livers available for transplants should be rationed out, with priority going to the sickest people closest to death.

LOS ANGELES -- Within the next day or two, Dr. Ronald Busuttil will sit down and compose a letter to the 250-plus patients on the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center's liver transplant waiting list to explain why some of them will no longer be considered favored candidates for the life-saving operation.Busuttil's department -- one of the largest liver transplantation units in the country -- has been swamped with calls from anxious patients since Thursday's announcement of changes in the rules defining who gets priority for a liver transplant.

HYATTSVILLE -- All Tom Dickman had to do to persuade his son, Chad, to change his mind was mention the magic name: Morgan Wootten.This was last summer, after Wootten, DeMatha High's celebrated basketball coach, had received a liver transplant. Dickman, a coach at Thomas Johnson High in Frederick, had taken Chad, 16, to get his driver's license.Dickman noticed that where the application asked if he wanted to be an organ donor, his son had checked no."I don't want to tell you what to do," Dickman said, "but remember Coach Wootten just had a liver transplant.

Morgan Wootten arrived in a Johns Hopkins Hospital wheelchair, wearing sandals and sweat socks, a wide smile and a red polo shirt bearing the words "DeMatha Coaching Staff." His wife, Kathy, occasionally rubbed his back."When I entered this hospital one month and two days ago, I wasn't sure I would be able to greet you like this, or whether I would ever see any of you again," Wootten said at the news conference marking his discharge yesterday. "But here I am, through the grace of God and the help of so many people."

DeMatha High basketball coach Morgan Wootten, who received a liver transplant July 10, was upgraded to good condition yesterday after a mild rejection of the transplant last weekend.Wootten may be released from Johns Hopkins Hospital late next week. A hospital spokesman said Wootten now will begin physical therapy, including walking, to regain his strength.Wootten, 65, was listed in good condition last week before the setback and is "making steady progress," according to the spokesman.Wootten had a diseased liver for years, believed to stem from an inherited condition.

Morgan Wootten, who has compiled a 1,094-163 record in 40 seasons as basketball coach at Hyattsville's DeMatha High, has cirrhosis of the liver and is a "high priority" candidate for a transplant.Wootten is in Johns Hopkins Hospital after collapsing Sunday at his basketball camp at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg. He has had a diseased liver, believed to be the result of an inherited condition, for years and has been on a transplant list since April, but recent internal bleeding has made his condition critical.

Every day in the United States someone is saved and transformed by a transplant. In fact, the transplant boom at hospitals like the University of Maryland have made getting a new body part seem almost routine. But for the 18,000 people who receive transplants each year, the experience is nothing short of a physical, emotional and spiritual rebirth."You have two birthdays. That's how you think of it," says Jerry Lebowitz, who received a new liver two years ago at the University of Pittsburgh.