Recipient Got Wrong Donor Kidney And Had To Have It Removed

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Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;  Medical Malpractice / Litigation
Article Date: 22 Jan 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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A patient in Liverpool, England, was given the wrong kidney and had to have it taken out hours after a transplant operation. Apparently, the patient's blood type had been recorded incorrectly as A positive and registered into the computerized national transplant database. Yet, the hospital's paper records clearly showed his/her blood type as O positive, the correct blood type.

UK Transplant sent out a kidney that was compatible with an A positive recipient - this kidney was transplanted into the patient. Fortunately, a data clerk spotted the blunder when the patient's notes were cross-checked against the computer record shortly after the operation - the error had been overlooked by a series of nurses, surgeons and transplant coordinators. This is the first mistake of this kind to be made in the United Kingdom.

The incident happened three years ago and came to light after a Freedom of Information request made by The Mail on Sunday. The report does not tell us which of the three possible Liverpool hospitals was involved - the Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the only one that has a transplant unit. It is also not possible to find out who was responsible for this "human error".

Blame was pointed towards UK Transplant for not setting up a nationwide system for entering patient data. According to a UK Transplant spokesperson, the organization is not responsible for the way Trusts enter data.

There is no information on the patient's name, sex, or age. The report says that the patient, referred to as Patient A, made an 'uneventful recovery' and was discharged from hospital. We do not know whether Patient A went on to receive another kidney. There is no information on whether the donor was a family member. If he/she was a family member, he/she would have lost a kidney without the other family member benefiting from the donation. Experts say it is most likely that the wrong kidney was probably not given to anybody else (it was likely destroyed).

Additional checks revealed that a second kidney patient had also been registered with his/her blood group entered incorrectly.

"Transplant patient has NEW kidney removed after NHS computer blunder"
JO MACFARLANE
The Mail on Sunday 22 January, 2008
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Written by - Christian Nordqvist
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