Transplant woman hits out as kidney from smoker fails
A TRANSPLANT patient who was given a kidney from a 25-aday smoker wants new guidelines disclosing the history of donors.
Janice Richardson, 55, had two friends willing to donate a kidney to her when she accepted the organ from a dead patient, who was a heavy smoker in October 2013.
The kidney, which was never more than 15 per cent functional, had to be removed eight months after the transplant when an MRI scan revealed there was a stone in it and a narrowing artery.
Mrs Richardson, from Leeds, claims that had she known the donor’s history of heavy smoking and high blood pressure, she would have taken a kidney from one of her friends instead.
She said: ‘My two best friends flew in from South Africa and Australia to be tested and were told they were a tissue match for me.
‘Before I could make the decision which donor to go with, the hospital told me they had an excellent match and I was rushed into surgery. No one ever discussed the state of the organ with me.’
The organ had been turned down by two transplant centres before it was accepted by doctors treating Mrs Richardson at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Following the failure of the kidney, Mrs Richardson is now unable to undergo a further transplant and has to remain on dialysis.
She said: ‘When I became seriously ill and it became clear [the kidney] wasn’t functioning, a doctor commented it was a shame I’d received such a poor quality kidney, implying something was known about it before the operation.
‘You are made to feel so fortunate to be one of the chosen few to get a transplant. I feel completely let down by Leeds Hospital Trust.’ Dr Yvette Oade, chief medical officer at the Trust, said it follows national guidance ‘to ensure that patients can fully consent to a transplant’.
‘If a higher risk organ is being considered, the potential recipient is made aware of any medical history that may have an impact on the success or longevity of the transplant,’ she said. ‘This is so they are able to give informed consent and, where appropriate, have the opportunity to decline its use.’
Doctors did not consider that organs from smokers or those with high blood pressure should not be used in transplants and many such organs ‘ have been transplanted successfully in Leeds, across the UK and around the world’.