Complications lead to ‘first’ renal re-transplant

Complications lead to ‘first’ renal re-transplant

Trying to save wife, kidney donor ends up a renal patient

Complainant alleges that the operation to remove his father’s left kidney was botched up, leading to failure of his right kidney. Meanwhile, his mother’s body rejected the transplant, and the organ had to be re-transplanted in his father. KMC has show-caused the hospital, and govt has set up inquiry panel

Posted On Monday, February 11, 2013 at 07:10:32 AM

A hospital in Karnataka had to perform probably the first renal re-transplant in the state, after a kidney transplant within a family went horribly wrong for both donor and recipient, with the former’s remaining kidney failing because of alleged medical negligence and the latter’s body rejecting the donated organ.

While the affected family has accused the doctors at Vikram Hospital in Mysore of negligence, the Karnataka Medical Council (KMC) has issued a notice to the hospital authorities and the state government has constituted a high-level committee to probe the alleged lapses.

It all started when Devaraju, a resident of Mysore and a private company executive, took his mother Dhanalakshmi (45) to Vikram Hospital in August last year for a renal check-up. The doctors advised a kidney transplant, and Devaraju’s father Thibbe Gowda (48), a completely fit man, volunteered to donate his left kidney. The transplant, initially scheduled for August 3, was carried out on August 21.

Devaraju alleged, “The hospital quoted Rs 2.25 lakh for the transplant and we paid Rs 2.10 lakh on the day of the operation. The transplant was done by nephrologist Dr K C Gurudev and urologist Dr M S Ranganathan and they claimed it was successful, but the reality is that the surgery has shattered the happiness of the entire family because of the negligence of the doctors. During the surgery, the doctors removed the left kidney of my father and transplanted it in my mother. The doctors told us that during the laparoscopic surgery, one of the clips had slipped, resulted in bleeding. Following this, they did an open surgery. This resulted in low blood pressure and stopped the blood circulation to my father’s right kidney. Though the doctors assured us the kidney would work fine in a day or two, a subsequent angiogram showed that the right kidney had stopped functioning. In the meantime, the kidney transplanted to my mother also got rejected. The doctors forced us to go for re-transplantation (retrieving the kidney rejected by my mother and putting it back in my father).”

But the family’s woes did not end there. “My father was supposed to be discharged within a week but he remained in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) for more than 25 days as he developed various problems like low BP, blood clot in the brain, temporary visual loss, headache, itching and formation of liquid in the lungs. The hospital, however, did not collect any money from us for his treatment. They also discharged my mother without collecting any money, but did not give us her discharge summary report,” Devaraju alleged. The doctors told him to collect the Rs 2.10 lakh he had paid for the transplantation.

The hospital also agreed to Devaraju’s request for free treatment to his father and issued a letter to this effect while discharging the latter on September 27. Devaraju, in his complaint to KMC, stated: “We brought our father home, but he developed breathing problems in the night and we had to rush him back to the hospital at 4.15 am the next day. We demanded that the hospital furnish us a copy of the video taken during the transplant surgery and also the medical reports, to understand what went wrong on the operation table. While watching the video, we learnt that the doctors’ claim of a hemolock clip having slipped was false; the reality was that one of the doctors had cut the renal artery above the clip and that had caused the bleeding. When we confronted the hospital authorities about this, they turned non-cooperative and started demanding that we clear all the bills. They even lodged a police complaint against my ailing father, who continues to remain a patient in the same hospital for the last five months.” Meanwhile, Devaraju’s mother Dhanalakshmi, who used to undergo dialysis twice a week before the failed transplant, is now forced to undergo dialysis thrice a week.

Devaraju has registered complaints against the hospital with the KMC, the state government, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers. Realising the gravity of the situation, the state government’s health and family welfare department has ordered a five-member committee to probe the matter. The committee is headed by Dr G K Venkatesh, head of the nephro-urology department in Victoria Hospital, and the report is awaited.

KMC has issued a notice of ‘professional negligence’ to the hospital authorities and has asked them to explain their stand. However, the hospital and its doctors have dismissed all claims, saying the “parents of the complainant are alive”, and have called the complaint “one-sided” and one that cannot be established. The hospital has also said that the patients were aware of all the complications and the transplant was conducted after obtaining an approval from the authorisation committee, and has claimed that the complaint was made with an ulterior objective.

Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, president of KMC, Dr Chikkananjappa, said, “The case is very complicated and technical in nature. So it requires and in-depth study. After a report is submitted by the committee, a decision can be made. This is one of the first such cases that has come to us.”

When contacted by BM, the chief administrative officer of Vikram Hospital, Dayashankar Rao, directed us to the doctors who had performed the surgery. “We cannot comment on this as it is the doctors who have performed the surgery. You have to speak to them,” he said. Accordingly, BM contacted Dr Ranganath and he said, “I have not done anything wrong. He (Devaraju) can go ahead and complain since it’s his right to do so. Everything has been done in the interest of the patient. Thibbe Gowda is fit but is still not leaving the hospital. The patient and his family just want money, which is why they are doing all this.”

But Devaraju countered the hospital’s claim, saying, “I am only seeking justice for what has happened to my father and mother.”

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