Family Sues Over Kidney Transplant Death

Associated Press

May 13, 2004

WORCESTER MA - The family of a woman who died from brain cancer after a kidney transplant has sued the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, claiming the kidney was infected with cancer cells that eventually killed her.

The malpractice lawsuit was filed against the hospital, three of its doctors and a nurse Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court by the family of Pamela Collins of Fitchburg, who died at age 64 about a year after receiving the new kidney.

"She was expecting a lifesaving procedure and instead was handed a death sentence by her doctors," Andrew Meyer, an attorney for Collins' family, told the Boston Herald.

Collins' son, Andre Yoshida, said the family was elated when it learned on the night the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl in 2002 that Collins would receive the transplant.

He said his mother wasn't told before the Feb. 4, 2002, transplant that the donor died of a fast-moving form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Collins died of the same form of brain cancer on May 10, 2003.

Yoshida said doctors called the family about 10 days after the surgery and told them a cancerous lesion had been found on the donor's lungs when they were being readied for transplantation into a different patient.

The doctors - Anne Lally, Pang-Yen Fan and Leonard Pace - and nurse Tammy Lovewell told Collins' family they could remove the kidney and return her to dialysis, but they could not guarantee the cancer had not already spread, the family said.

The second option was to leave in the kidney and monitor her closely, which the family chose because they felt she was too weak to survive another major surgery so soon after the transplant.

In April 2003, a lump was detected on her brain during a CAT scan and she died the following month.

Two other transplant patients at UMass Memorial Medical Center also died after receiving organs from a donor with brain cancer in 2002, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

New England Organ Bank executive director Richard Luskin said brain cancer victims are among the few types of cancer victims who are considered for organ donation. The final decision rests with the recipient's doctors, he said.

In a written statement, UMass Memorial Medical Center said: "Organ transplantion, like many lifesaving or life-extending procedures, is not without risk. Surgical informed consent processes are well-defined, well understood and well-documented, and provide patients with the information necessary to making a well-informed judgment as to the risks and benefits of any medical or surgical procedure."

Copyright © 2004 Knight-Ridder.

This article posted May 22, 2004.