US nurse throws away kidney from living donor, ruins it

Aug 25, 2012 |

Chicago

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A nurse in a US hospital ‘accidentally’ threw away a kidney from a living donor with medical waste and ruined it.

The kidney was removed by a surgeon and then inadvertently thrown away by a nurse.

It took about an hour or more to find the discarded kidney, which was among medical waste, sources with knowledge of the botched surgery said.

The kidney donated by a Toledo man to his older sister was thrown away with medical waste at the University of Toledo Medical Center, Ohio, in what experts described as a rare accident, The Blade newspaper reported.

Hospital officials have talked about the August 10 incident that rendered the donated kidney ruined, but they refused for a second day to confirm multiple reports about how the removed organ was damaged beyond repair.

Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner David Grossman confirmed along with other sources that the kidney was accidentally disposed of by a nurse.

"One of the kidney doctors talked to me," Grossman said. "He said it had to do with one of the nurses disposing of the kidney improperly. He didn't try to hide anything from us." However, it's unclear what happened to the kidney recipient.

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