ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION NEWS - NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Hospital Cleared After Patient Catches Cancer From Kidney Transplant

By Meg Marco on May 29, 2010 4:10 PM

A NY hospital has been cleared in a lawsuit after a kidney transplant patient developed cancer and died after receiving an organ from someone who had the disease but had not yet been diagnosed.

The patient was a 37-year old diabetic who had been on dialysis for 4 years before he got a transplant from a donor who died of a stroke. The cancer was not diagnosed until the donor's body was autopsied. The surgeon for the transplant patient learned of the cancer 6 weeks later and advised the patient to keep the kidney because the risk of a male catching uterine cancer seemed low.

There seems to be little doubt that cancer acquired from the transplant caused his death, but the hospital argued that it was a form of immune-system cancer that transplant patients sometimes get -- while another cancer specialist concluded that he had acquired uterine cancer.

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This was a tragic result for all parties, and we want to once again extend our deepest sympathies to the Liew family," the hospital said in a statement. "Unfortunately, in this case, the outcome of the transplant could not have been predicted or even imagined by our transplant team."

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The lawyer for the patient's widow says she is not bitter at the loss and is glad that the case raised awareness of the issue.

AS AN ORGAN RECIPIENT, I WAS GIVEN FULL DISCLOSURE PRIOR TO MY SURGERY THAT MY LIFE SAVING TRANSPLANT MAY RESULT IN MY GETTING CANCER, HIV AND A HOST OF OTHER DISEASES FROM MY DONOR. ALL PROSPECTIVE PATIENTS ARE GIVEN SIMILAR PRE-TRANSPLANT EDUCATION. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE SPEAK WITH YOUR TRANSPLANT COORDINATOR OR TRANSPLANT MEDICAL DIRECTOR. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE THE ORGAN - THOUGH WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE? BE INFORMED!