No, the other kidney

Posted on September 4, 2012 in Our Blog,Patient Care

Did you know that the most commonly transplanted organ is the kidney? In the United States alone last year, nearly 17,000 kidney transplants were performed. That’s a lot of kidneys, but I’m sure that anyone needing a kidney transplant will tell you it is serious business. That is why the accidental discarding of a kidney in Ohio in August is such a big deal.

Apparently a nurse or someone at the University of Toledo Medical Center accidentally threw away a perfectly healthy kidney from a living donor. The kidney was donated by a brother to his sister. The center and its living-donor kidney transplant program are now under review. Two nurses and a surgical services administrator have been put on paid leave. The hospital has not disclosed many details of the incident, so it is unclear how the kidney ended up in medical waste. In the meantime, the sister is likely still waiting for a kidney.