NHS Blood and Transplant admits negligence after kidney donor found to have had aggressive cancer

Posted: 07/03/2012

Two kidney transplant patients at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital had to undergo six cycles of chemotherapy after tests revealed the kidneys they received came from a donor with a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

The patients received the donor kidneys in November 2010. Some days later, after the results of the donor’s post mortem were made available, they were told tests had revealed the donor had been suffering from intravascular B-cell lymphoma.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has admitted liability for the incident which was the result of a failure of communication by a member of staff employed by NHSBT at the hospital where the donor died. The chief executive of NHSBT, Lynda Hamlyn, explained that the incident occurred partly as a result of human error by a specialist nurse who had not completed her training but who had been receiving support from a colleague. Ms Hamlyn said that surgeons would have rejected the donor organs had they been aware of the complete donor information. She offered the trust’s 'sincere and unreserved apologies' to the two patients who were given the donor kidneys.

Since receiving chemotherapy, both patients have been told that there is no sign of cancer although they will need to undergo further scans next month.

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