A transplant patient who went into the hospital to get a kidney and wound up with brain damage will receive a $6 million settlement from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the Sun-Times reported Wednesday.
The case involved diabetic Lauro Ortiz, who had been born with one kidney and sought to get another kidney so that he wouldn’t need dialysis. On Dec. 17, 2005, when Ortiz was 39, he learned that there was a kidney available for him and he received the transplant.
He was released from the hospital five days after his operation, but unbeknownest to him and his doctors, his new kidney had a fungal infection. On Dec. 26 the organization that had supplied the kidney, Gift of Hope, both phoned and faxed Rush to warn the hospital that the kidney was infected, according to the Sun-Times. The hospital’s own test the next day confirmed that finding.
But in an unfortunate mistake, Rush never contacted Ortiz to tell him there was a problem with the kidney. He was not feeling well, and was dizzy, so he returned to the hospital Jan. 13. It took Rush until almost a week later, until Jan. 19, to diagnose that Ortiz’s kidney infection had traveled to his brain.
So the kidney infection went untreated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 19, allowing it to spread to Ortiz’s brain.
His attorney blamed the screw-up on the lack of communication at Rush.
Ortiz had been a machinist before he sustained his brain injury. Now he lives with his mother in Chicago and has cognitive issues, including memory loss, according to the Sun-Times.
Original url: http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/2684436,CST-NWS-KIDNEY08.article
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Thank you for sharing this it has a very informative content.. I hope more of this comes..
God bless and more power..
i don’t think kidney transplant is a good way for the end-stage kidney disease patient. you know, it is difficult to find a kidney source. sometimes , there will be some reject reaction after kidney transplanting.
In fact ther are more better ways to treat kidney diseae. Shijiazhuang Kidney Disease Hospital uses Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy and Stem Cell Transplant Therapy to treat kidney disease. And, until now, there have been more than hundreds of kidney disease patient recoverd by these two methods.
know more information about kidney disease treatment method, or how to treat kidney disease, please send email to: kidneycn2010@hotmail.com or seach website: http://www.kidneycn.com/Characteristic-Treatment/Stem-Cell-Transplant-Technology/73.html