Father is killed by cancer in donated kidney
A FATHER lost his life and two other patients developed cancer after receiving infected organs from the same donor, an inquest found yesterday.
Parminder Sidhu, 49, died in agony in March less than a year after undergoing a ‘successful’ kidney transplant.
The Heathrow airside loader later complained of feeling unwell, and a scan that December showed he had a 7cm cancerous lesion.
Doctors removed the kidney but he later died. His inquest in Fulham, west London, yesterday heard that doctors found no fault with the donor kidney, which was transplanted from a woman who
‘How did they miss this?’
had no history of cancer. A scan four months later showed Mr Sidhu had a 1cm lesion, but this was dismissed as a cyst. It was only when he reported being in pain that the cancer – an extremely aggressive form – was discovered.
His case was deemed so rare it is believed to be one of only 11 worldwide, out of more than 80,000 transplants a year.
Coroner Lydia Brown recorded a narrative conclusion, saying: ‘This death was due to a recognised but very rare complication of a planned transplant.
‘It must be so very hard for you to have had the initial happiness of a successful transplant to the terrible change of fortune in the latter part of last year.’
The inquest heard that two others received organs from the same donor and later developed cancer.
Their conditions are not known. Mr Sidhu’s widow, Tarjinder, 47, told the Mail: ‘My husband trusted his doctors so much. How did they miss this? He wanted to have the operation to make his life better.
‘It is really, really hard for me and our children now. All the time I think of him.’
Mr Sidhu’s brother, Harjinder Sidhu, 39, is now helping to support Mrs Sidhu and her son, Jagdeep, 20, and 13- year- old daughter Manmeet.
He said: ‘When he had an ultrasound scan last December, it was at this point that concerns were raised and he ended up being diagnosed with renal cancer. It was a huge shock to us, particularly as it was in the transplant kidney and we didn’t have a clue this was even a possibility.
‘Losing him the way we did is something that the family will never get over, and we felt more could have been done to stop something like this from happening.’
Mr Sidhu, of Hounslow, west London, developed kidney problems in his 30s and had a transplant in his native India in 2005 without any complications.
But he started to experience issues with the organ during lockdown and was having regular dialysis at his local hospital. He had another transplant at Hammersmith Hospital – one of the largest kidney transplant centres in Europe – in April last year.
Frank Dor, consultant transplant surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: ‘There were no concerns. We were all quite shocked [when Mr Sidhu was found to have cancer in the kidney]. Even in retrospect, we couldn’t find any reason why this transplant shouldn’t have happened. We have taken everything into account, all factors known to us and there was no reason for concern – even in hindsight.’