A lawsuit filed July 21 against Seattle-based Swedish Medical Center and the United Network for Organ Sharing alleges the organizations used a race-based kidney function formula that delayed the plaintiff’s transplant waitlist eligibility by six years.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, centers on a now-discontinued “race-based coefficient” applied to estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) scores. The formula inflated Black patients’ scores by 16% to 21%, pushing many above the 20 mL/min threshold required to begin accruing waitlist wait time.
The plaintiff, Saundra Haddix-Hamilton, alleges she would have qualified to start accruing wait time on May 17, 2012, without the race adjustment, but Swedish did not add her to the waitlist until July 25, 2018. She began dialysis in 2020 and was marked inactive on the waitlist after her health declined, according to the complaint.
UNOS eliminated the race-based coefficient on July 27, 2022. The lawsuit alleges that Swedish continued considering race-adjusted scores for its transplant program and never disclosed a policy change. The complaint also alleges that UNOS took no affirmative steps to adjust affected patients’ wait times for more than six months, and that a subsequent notification-and-adjustment process announced in January 2023 gave hospitals until January 2024 to request wait-time adjustments — a lag the complaint characterizes as insufficient given the harm already caused. UNOS told Becker’s it does not comment on pending litigation.
In a statement to Becker’s, Providence Swedish said the race-based eGFR adjustment was not specific to its program and that its transplant policies are directed by HRSA and OPTN rules. The health system said it complied with the July 2022 policy change and submitted required documentation to UNOS.
“Providence Swedish is committed to high-quality transplant care for all patients, regardless of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status,” the health system said. “We proactively advocate for policies that reduce health disparities and ensure that we follow protocols and make necessary changes to address systemic inequities in the healthcare system.”
Ms. Haddix-Hamilton seeks to represent a class of Black patients registered on Swedish’s kidney waitlist since 2000; the complaint estimates more than 500 have been registered, with over 200 potentially eligible for a wait-time adjustment.
The lawsuit brings claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Washington Law Against Discrimination, breach of fiduciary duty and outrage. Ms. Haddix- Hamilton’s lawyers have cited at least nine similar lawsuits filed against UNOS in California, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts and Washington.
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