The families of two patients who died earlier this year from complications extending from liver transplant surgery have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Mount Sinai Hospital. Michael Hurewitz, 57, and Rabbi Jeffrey Wartenberg, 62, died in January. Hurewitz passed away three days after donating part of his liver to his ailing brother. Wartenberg died after receiving a liver transplant. Inadequate staffing and improper post-surgical care at the hospital have been blamed for their deaths. The lawsuits allege the hospital and its staff were "reckless, outrageous and grossly negligent".

The New York Health Department recently fined Mount Sinai $48,000 and suspended its live-patient partial liver donations for six months. It is estimated that the hospital uses living donors for liver surgeries more than any other facility in the country. Over 100 live donor operations have taken place at Mount Sinai since 1998.