MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: Two Brothers Accused UPMC of Medical Malpractice Over Liver Transplant

February 5, 2010

California - A man who received liver transplant and his brother on Wednesday have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) for allegedly failing to inform them about the risk of live liver transplant.

In a lawsuit, 45-year-old Peter Cullen, accused Dr. Amadeo Marcos and UPMC of negligence which has allegedly resulted to complications from the surgeries performed between March 2003 and November 2006.

In a separate lawsuit, 43-year-old Timothy Cullen, who served as a live organ donor for his brother, said that he is also suffering from liver diseases after the surgeries.

The lawsuits cited a 2008 study showing that liver transplants which used organs donated by a living person have an increased rate of complications.

Dr. Thomas Starzl, the lead author of the study which focused on Marcos’s patients, said that about 66 percent of 121 recipients who received organs from live donors have experienced complications.

When asked about the lawsuits, UPMC Spokesman Paul Wood has declined to give comments.