Kidney Recipient Gets HIV From Gay Donor; Sues Hospital

[Chris_]

Kidney Recipient Gets HIV, From Gay Donor; Sues Hospital
The woman is the fourth patient to contract hepatitis and HIV from the donor, who had been killed in a car accident in 2007.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

(UPI) – A lawsuit contends a Chicago hospital didn't tell a patient her new kidney came from a homosexual donor who turned out to have hepatitis and the HIV virus.

The 33-year-old patient, whose name was not revealed, sued the University of Chicago Medical Center on the grounds that she would have refused the new organ if she had know the donor came from a high-risk lifestyle, the Chicago Tribune said Tuesday.

The woman is the fourth patient to contract hepatitis and HIV from the donor, who had been killed in a car accident in 2007. The patient tested negative prior to organ removal, likely because the infection was recent, the Tribune reported.

The Chicago Sun-Times said federal regulations require transplant patients be told if they are receiving organs from a gay donor due to the risk of HIV and AIDS being involved.

The plaintiff in the case had the kidney removed and is back on dialysis. However she has tested positive for both hepatitis C and HIV.

LINK

edit: This was the take 25 minutes after the story was cut.

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[Chris_]

Woman who got kidney tainted with HIV sues
NON-EMERGENCY SITUATION | Alleges doctor knew donor was high-risk

November 18, 2008

BY KARA SPAK Staff Reporter
A 33-year-old woman who tested positive for HIV and hepatitis C after receiving an infected kidney during an organ transplant at the University of Chicago Medical Center is suing the hospital and a surgeon on the transplant team.

Jane Doe, the plaintiff’s alias, was one of four people who received infected organs from the single male donor at Chicago area hospitals in January 2007, said Thomas Demetrio, the woman’s attorney. All four were diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C after the transplants, Demetrio said.

“Emotionally she’s pretty devastated, to be honest,” he said. “She’s just coping with the hand that’s been dealt her.”

The suit claims Dr. J. Richard Thistlewaite and others at the hospital’s transplant team were told by Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network that the donor was a homosexual who died in a car collision. The transplant team never told the recipient — whose condition was non-life threatening— the donor was homosexual, which the suit claims is considered “high risk” for organ donation.

A spokesman for the hospital did not have an immediate comment.

Demetrio said the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines state that unless the case is life or death, the recipient must be told the background if the donor is a gay man.

<SNIP>

A more thorough article on the story.

[Peter3_1]

I thought all this HIV / donor stuff was resolved with rapid tests. Criminal to give AIDS to someone thru a organ trabnasplant. Oh, why were they transplanting those organs anyway, before the tests were complete.

[Zeus]

Just remember Homosexuality is just between consenting adults. How would that affect anyone else. If the young woman who recieved the transplant was married you think her death had any effect on that marriage .

[Miss Mia]

I thought all this HIV / donor stuff was resolved with rapid tests. Criminal to give AIDS to someone thru a organ trabnasplant. Oh, why were they transplanting those organs anyway, before the tests were complete.

The hospital was clearly negligent if they didn't do the required testing before the transplant.  Considering that participating in anal sex is a disqualification for giving blood, I'm surprised that it's not a disqualification for a donor of organ transplants. 

Very sad for the people that contacted HIV from something that should have been life saving, not life ending.

[Chris]

Isn't that the hospital Michelle Obama works for?

[Lacarnut]

Isn't that the hospital Michelle Obama works for?

It sure is but the silence will be deafening regarding it.

[Jim]

Around here you can't donate anything if you answer yes to the homo question or if they suspect you might be lying.

This is going to make a BIG check happen.

And I would hope that the rest of the country develops a little common sense.

[MrsSmith]

The patient tested negative prior to organ removal, likely because the infection was recent, the Tribune reported.

Very new infections will not register on the tests. 

[Jim]

Very new infections will not register on the tests. 

which is why you toss anything associated with a homosexual.  period.

[jinxmchue]

Why is such a high-risk group allowed to donate anything?  For once, I agree with segregation.  Let them have their own gay hospitals where they can all trade around their HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis/whatever-infected blood and organs, but keep it all the **** away from the rest of the damn country.

[Duke Nukum]

Why is such a high-risk group allowed to donate anything?  For once, I agree with segregation.  Let them have their own gay hospitals where they can all trade around their HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis/whatever-infected blood and organs, but keep it all the **** away from the rest of the damn country.

I remember a few years ago there was this "movement" amongst the radical gay people to demand blood banks take their blood.  I remember this happening on a college campus some place.

[MrsSmith]

I remember a few years ago there was this "movement" amongst the radical gay people to demand blood banks take their blood.  I remember this happening on a college campus some place.

Yep.  I think some activists sued, but my google-fu seems to be broken tonight...I can't find a link.

[Flame]

Yep.  I think some activists sued, but my google-fu seems to be broken tonight...I can't find a link.

I don't know about about nationally, but I know there was a loser on DU who was complaining he couldn't give blood and was considering lying about it so he could.

[jtyangel]

The hospital was clearly negligent if they didn't do the required testing before the transplant.  Considering that participating in anal sex is a disqualification for giving blood, I'm surprised that it's not a disqualification for a donor of organ transplants. 

Very sad for the people that contacted HIV from something that should have been life saving, not life ending.

I'm guessing because of the desperate need for donors while is does not disqualify, they are required to reveal that it is from a risky group so the person can either accept or reject the organ. They are at least given a chance to accept or reject it and I bet in those cases are required to sign all kinds of waivers. Look slike the hospital made the decision for her. This is something that interests me as my brother who is the same age as this young lady is and has been on dialysis for 5 years already. He could at anytime get put on the transplant list for a pancrease/kidney procedure(he's opted to take his chances with dialysis as he knows conceivably he could live on it for 20 more years--he has no children btw).