THIS IS JUST A BRIEF HISTORY OF UPMC ANYONE HERE SMART ENOUGH AS TO WHAT THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL IS? Criticism and controversies[edit] UPMC has been criticized for excessive profits,[78] monopolistic practices,[79] excessive advertising budgets,[80] and focusing on overseas operations at the expense of domestic ones.[81] In addition, various controversies have received significant local and national attention in recent years. In 2008, the administration and reporting of UPMCs living donor liver transplantation program received national attention when internal studies, spearheaded by transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl, questioned the safety of the procedure and ultimately resulted in the forced resignation of liver transplant program head, Amadeo Marcos.[82][83] Another controversy arose in May, 2011 for UPMCs live-donor kidney transplant program when a kidney infected with hepatitis C was transplanted into a non-infected person. The incident led UPMC to voluntarily shut down its kidney transplant program for two months, and resulted in the suspension of a nurse and demotion of a surgeon. Federal reviewers with United Network for Organ Sharing concluded human error at fault for the oversight and corrective plans that included multiple redundancies were instituted with oversight from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.[84] Because of the botched living donor kidney transplant at UPMC, the federal Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) put UPMCs transplant program on probation, a rarely used form of discipline handed down for some of the most serious transplant errors. The OPTN said it meted out the discipline not only because of the kidney transplant error, but because UPMCs transplant program was found to have problems in its communication and documentation procedures before.[85] In April 2009, rival West Penn Allegheny Health System filed an antitrust lawsuit against the UPMC and health insurer Highmark, claiming a conspiracy to create a monopoly.[86] The lawsuit was later dismissed with prejudice.[87] West Penn Allegheny filed an appeal of this judgment.[88] Upon appeal, the case was unanimously reinstated by the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In October 2009, UPMCs administration decision to close UPMC Braddock hospital[89] resulted in multiple protest and lawsuits[90] by community groups who disputed UPMCs claims that the hospital was losing money and was underutilized.[91] The facility, now demolished in preparation for redevelopment, closed in January, 2010.[92] In April 2013, UPMC has been criticized for paying low wages,[93] and using unfair labor practices to thwart efforts by employees to unionize, as alleged in the Service Employees International Unions complaint to the National Labor Relations Board.[94] In March 2013, the City of Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit in Federal court challenging the tax exempt status of UPMC as a public charity, in an effort to make UPMC to pay back taxes. The city alleges that UPMC has abused its status to avoid paying property taxes.[95] In popular culture[edit] The television medical dramas Heartland (2007) and Three Rivers (2009) were largely based on UPMC and the University of Pittsburghs Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.[96][97] In both cases the hospitals are fictionalized, but in the latter series UPMC is also specifically referred to as another Pittsburgh-area hospital.
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