Liver Distribution Suit Claims Trimmed, Implementation Date Set

HHS won’t have to defend its new donated liver allocation policy against claims that the agency unlawfully failed to notify the public of the policy change and take comments before implementing it, a federal court in Georgia said Tuesday.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia partially dismissed a lawsuit in which transplant patients and centers where transplants are performed challenged a new Health and Human Services Department policy for determining how and where donated organs are assigned to liver transplant patients.

Specifically, the plaintiffs can’t proceed on claims that Secretary Alex M. Azar was required to ...