NYC hospital wins kidney transplant-cancer lawsuit

[okarol]

NYC hospital wins kidney transplant-cancer lawsuit
JENNIFER PELTZ
From Associated Press
May 28, 2010 10:59 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A prominent organ-transplant hospital wasn't to blame for the death of a man who became riddled with cancer after getting a kidney from a donor who unknowingly had uterine cancer, jurors found Friday.

The Queens jury found for NYU Langone Medical Center on Friday in the medical malpractice case surrounding Vincent Liew's 2002 death. Experts have said it may be the only case of uterine cancer being transmitted by transplant, though the hospital has suggested Liew died of another form of cancer derived from the transplant.

The hospital's lawyer, Robert Elliott, had argued that after belatedly learning about the cancer, its doctors did their best to assess the unusual situation and give Liew good advice.

"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."

Liew's widow, Kimberly, had sued for more than $3 million in damages. Despite the verdict, she felt the case served her larger goal of drawing attention to the unknown danger her husband had faced, said one of her lawyers, Daniel Buttafuoco.

"She's not bitter or angry about this. She's a devout Christian, and she wants to make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else," he said.

Liew, a 37-year-old diabetic who had been on dialysis for four years, got a kidney transplant on Feb. 25, 2002. The donor had died of a stroke, and her cancer wasn't discovered until she was autopsied. The hospital that treated her, St. Luke's Cornwall in Newburgh, N.Y., has declined to comment on the case.

Liew's surgeon, Dr. Thomas Diflo, didn't learn about her cancer until about six weeks after the transplant.

Liew decided to keep the kidney after Diflo concluded there was only a slim chance he'd be sickened by the feminine cancer. He ultimately had the kidney removed in August 2002 but died the next month of a cancer his autopsy said came from the donor.

His widow said the hospital should have urged him to have the organ removed immediately.

The hospital said it advised Liew there was a risk, respected his choice and aggressively monitored the kidney for signs of cancer. Repeated tests found nothing, though his cancer became apparent after the organ was removed.

NYU acknowledged the malignancy derived from the transplant and caused his death, but a cancer expert who reviewed Liew's records on the hospital's behalf said he believed Liew suffered from a type of immune-system cancer that sometimes afflicts transplant patients. Another cancer specialist, who reviewed the records for Liew's widow, concluded Liew's disease was indeed uterine cancer.

The donor's boyfriend has said her family also donated her heart and other organs. It's unclear who may have received the organs and how they have fared. The local organization that arranged Liew's transplant has referred calls to a national group, the United Network for Organ Sharing, that declined to comment Friday on the fate of the donor's other organs.

Liew, originally from Singapore, worked in the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York.

NYU Langone is one of the country's busiest transplant hospitals, having performed more than 1,300 liver and kidney transplants during the last 21 years, according to its website.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 percent of U.S. organ transplants are suspected of transmitting illnesses, though data are sparse.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20100528/472d009f-cb43-40f7-99d7-7b057d57245a&sms_ss=email

[KarenInWA]

I find this disburbing.  If a body is riddled with cancer, the organs shouldn't be donated, or, they should be donated with that information given to the receiving patient.  Why was this info not shared with the transplant team??? That is too much of a risk.  I have a book on cancer, and it talks about a similar situation where a woman died who had skin cancer in her medical history.  She was in complete remission.  In the end, both patients who received her kidneys ended up dying within a year due to cancer from her kidneys.  I know it was published in a medical journal.  I will post that info later.  Right now it's late, and I need to sleep!

KarenInWA

[okarol]

"man who became riddled with cancer after getting a kidney from a donor who unknowingly had uterine cancer,"

"The donor had died of a stroke, and her cancer wasn't discovered until she was autopsied."

"Liew's surgeon, Dr. Thomas Diflo, didn't learn about her cancer until about six weeks after the transplant."

[Sunny]

Since they found the cancer after the kidney transplant, I guess maybe they could then consider removing the transplanted kidney to avoid any risk of getting the cancer.
It sounds like they did take this into consideration but determined the likelihood of getting a "female" kind of cancer a minimal risk too a male recipient.An all around sad story.