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Toledo Medical Center denies negligence after throwing away a transplant kidney

At the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio, a hospital employee has admitted to throwing away a kidney that was going to be used as a transplant. Despite the nurse's grave error, UTMC is asking the Ohio state court to dismiss charges of negligence that have been filed by the family of the young woman who was to receive the kidney.

In August 2012, Sarah A. Fudacz was actually going to receive her brother's kidney and thought that the pain associated with her renal failure would finally end. As she lay on the operating table, under anesthesia, the transplant came to a sudden halt when a nurse accidentally threw away Sarah's 17-year-old brother Paul, Jr.'s kidney. Physicians attempted to save the kidney, but as both sides have agreed, it was no longer functional. 

The Fudacz's attorney told reporters: "They are admitting they threw the kidney away, but they are not admitting substandard medical care…It would be more decent to admit substandard care, and the family shouldn't have to be going through litigation to prove it. It's obvious to everyone but the university…" Indeed, the hospital even suspended their live-donor program for some time and although it has since recommenced, many feel that the temporary postponement of the program is essentially an admission of guilt.

UTMC, with the help of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, will fight the Fudacz family in court as they attempt to collect compensation for pain and suffering. A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office told reporters that the state feels as though the family has no basis for a claim under Ohio law as it is written. Specifically, the law states that an "adult child" can recover losses for a parent, but not the other way around.

While UTMC did set up an alternative transplant in Denver that was successful, Sarah Fudacz says that in the months between the mistake in Ohio and the operation in Colorado she "suffered through painful dialysis, four painful surgeries" and underwent the mental anguish of the uncertainty of whether or not she would die while she waited, according to the family's lawyer.

UTMC College of Medicine dean, Dr. Jeffrey Gold, prepared a statement expressing the "sorrow that [UTMC] feel[s] that this unfortunate incident occurred." Again, most see this as a clear admission of guilt; nevertheless, the Attorney General and UTMC seem certain they are not at fault for negligence. In July, a spokesperson from UTMC even told reporters that they had "created a unique environment of safety…that is second to none."

The surgeon who was to perform the transplant remains on staff, the administrator of surgical services was given paid administrative leave, the nurse who threw the kidney away resigned last September, and another nurse, Melanie Lemay, who was fired after the incident is now suing UTMC for wrongful discharge, among other things.

Preventable accidents like this happen all the time. Fortunately, for Sarah Fudacz, she was healthy enough to remain living while UTMC scrambled to right their wrong. Many others are not so lucky.

Source: ABC News, 30 August 2013

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