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UCI Medical’s Cygan Put on Leave

Ralph Cygan, chief executive of UCI Medical Center, was placed on temporary administrative leave Wednesday afternoon, nearly a week after the Orange hospital’s liver transplant program was shuttered.

University of California, Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said in a release that Cygan would be on leave until a report investigating the transplant program is completed.

Drake appointed Maureen Zehntner, the academic hospital’s chief operating officer, as acting director.

“This action is not a presumption of fault. It will help to ensure that a thorough, independent review will take place,” Drake said.

Drake said the review committee would be chaired by Meredith Khachigian, former chair of the University of California’s Board of Regents.

The panel, he said, would have the full support of his office and a “clear mandate to produce a candid, in-depth analysis of the medical and managerial decisions that led to the center’s closing.”

UCI Medical closed its liver transplant operations last week after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services pulled its certification of the hospital’s program.

The teaching hospital was criticized for mismangement of its liver transplant program. More than 30 patients died while waiting for transplants during the past two years. The hospital rejected livers that were accepted by other transplant programs.

Regulators found that UCI Medical’s liver program had a one-year survival rate of 68% to 70% between July 2001 and June 2004, below the federal standard of 77%.

Cygan, a doctor, took over as chief executive of UCI Medical in 2000. He’s been at UCI since starting his residency in 1977.

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