According to hospital President and Chief Executive Gus Valdespino, the staff then falsified documents to cover up the alleged wrongdoing.
The case involves a Saudi national who was 52nd on a transplant list based on who is sickest and has been waiting longest. St. Vincent officials claim the liver should have gone to a higher priority patient.
The transplant was done in 2003 and the Saudi Arabian Embassy paid $339,000 for the operation. Valdespino says the payment is up to 30 percent more than what the hospital would normally receive from insurance companies and government programs.
Hospital officials report Dr. Richard R. Lopez Jr., director of St. Vincent's liver transplant program, and Dr. Hector C. Ramos, the assistant director, are no longer affiliated with the program, but have not specified whether they were fired.
The hospital notified the state Department of Health Services about the case and agency spokeswoman Lea Brooks says inspectors are investigating.
The suspension of the liver program at St. Vincent means that lifesaving transplants could be delayed for 75 patients who are on the center's waiting list.
